The Next Avengers - Lurking Shadows
by DaughterOfNeptun
Summary: Sequal to Ultron's Return. Their lives seemed perfect. They were finally together and started a family. It was truly if it were not for what was lurking in the shadows. Will the next generation be able to safe the day when the shadows rise? Or will they be swallowed he eternal darkness? Read and find out :) .
1. Just another Family Gathering

_Book II – Just another family gathering_

"Aiden!" A voice rung through to him. "Aiden!" Gods, he knew that voice too well. "Aiden, you need to get up, if you want to shower before the others arrive!"

The young blond groaned and rolled over on his stomach before smashing the pillow over his head. He didn't want to get up yet, the training with Kane last night killed him… Just as he thought that this little monster had given up his door was opened and just a second later something – or someone – jumped onto his back.

"Aiden! Come on!" She wouldn't give up, would she? "Please, if you don't stand up now Kane will come up here and get you out of bed."

The blond groaned and pulled his pillow off his head before turning it so he could look at the girl on his toned back. Her silver eyes met his two green ones causing a grin to spread on her lips. "You're a terrible liar. Kane is never awake at such a time."

Her grin got even wider. "You're right. But I thought you wanted to shower since you didn't last night after your training session and you practically fell asleep in my doorway." She giggled and plopped down next to Aiden on his bed.

Sighing he popped on his elbows and watched his little sister next to him. 17 years have passed since she was born and as annoying she could be at times, he loved her with all his heart. Her golden locks now fell down to her bellybutton and turned slightly redder the farther they went down, but never turning completely red like their brother's and father's hair. Her skin was still as pale as his, which was one of the few things that even made it seem like they were siblings, next to their blond hair. He smiled lovingly – yet fucking tiredly – at his little sister and flicked her forehead.

"Ow!" She complained, attempting to slap him in return but was surprised as Aiden caught her hand quickly. "Wow, your reflexes got faster."

Aiden chuckled. "Thanks, sis."

He said and watched Lyra lower her hand before standing up and heading to his door. "I will be down stairs and help mom prepare everything. You shower before Kane and dad wake up, you know that otherwise you will be the last to shower and we wouldn't want Mr. Handsome to be late."

Aiden laughed and sat up in bed, while throwing the covers off him and standing up. Lyra's eyes went up and down his body before she frowned. "Has Mr. Handsome been to the gym lately? 'Cause those muscles weren't there last time I checked."

Again he laughed, why was his sister so good in making him laugh? "No, I haven't, Flipper and it is slightly off-putting that you're checking me out."

"It's not my fault that all the girls at school fawn over you and Kane whenever one of you picks me up and those gatherings don't help either." Lyra said, while massaging her forehead. That caused Aiden to frown. His sister only massages her forehead when something is off.

"You okay?" He carefully asked, not approaching her yet because he knew that she would shut him out then.

His little sister sighed and nodded. "Yeah, just school. It's more stressful now that it is only a year until graduation." A lie, Aiden knew so much, but why was she lying to him?

Smiling he walked over to her and hugged her tight. "Don't worry, the stress will decrease and if you ever need anything you know that you can come to me or Kane or mom and dad." He felt Lyra nod against his chest, whereupon he let her go and smiled at her scrunched up face. "That bad?"

"Terrible." She agreed and pushed away further. "Seriously, Uncle 'Zar and the guys will flip if they smell you."

Aiden chuckled. "Okay, okay, I'm going. But do me a favor and save a few pancakes for me."

"On it." Lyra said as she went down the stairs and left her brother alone again. For a short moment Aiden debated with himself to just lay down again, but on the other hand if he did his brother and father would occupy the bathroom forever and he wouldn't have that… again. So he grabbed new clothes and a towel from his cupboard and left his room to take a very long and very hot shower so that his family would know what he was dealing with for years. Smirking he closed the bathroom door behind him. Oh, they wouldn't know what hit them as soon as the water would start running.

* * *

"Have you managed?" A beautiful blonde woman asked as she emerged from the kitchen.

Lyra nodded and hurried over to her to help her decorating the rest of the garden, while putting the rest of the food on the table and saving Aiden a few pancakes. "Yep, it took a while but he is in the shower now. He looked really beat when I woke him up."

The woman sighed. "I should tell your father that he shouldn't be so hard on him."

"No." Lyra said quickly. "I don't think you should, mom. It's good for him, he got a lot stronger since the last time I saw him."

"Well then, he will be alright." Her mother told her and set another plate on the long table under a bunch of trees in their garden. "Lyra, would you be a darling and fetch me the salads from the kitchen?"

The young blonde nodded. "On it, mom." She said and hurried inside again. As she entered the house and hurried through the living room she heard slurping from the kitchen. _What the…?_ Frowning the young blonde went over to the fireplace and grabbed a sword from behind it. Then she very carefully lifted herself into the air and flew into the kitchen to eliminate the intruder. As she reached the kitchen the young girl braced herself for the attack and prayed to the gods of Asgard that her strength would not leave her when she charged.

Nodding to herself Lyra held the sword up higher and flew into the kitchen to face the intruder, which she recognized as male, but she recognized too late who that male was as her sword went right through his body and cut the cup he held in hand in half. "Oh my gods…"

"Not again…" He sighed and turned around to face the girl. "Can't I drink my tea in peace for once?" Lyra just stared at her brother with wide eyes and tried to calm her breathing before she scrunched her face and hit her brother's chest. Hard. "OW! What was that for?"

"You scared me, you damn idiot!" She exclaimed and hugged him tight before he could say anything back. "I could have killed you."

Aiden sighed and put his arms around his sister. "I'm sorry. But you really need to stop being so paranoid."

"I know." Lyra said against his chest. _Yeah, I just need to releax. This isn't school…_ "But thank gods for your magic."

Aiden chuckled. "Well at least someone in this family has talent."

His little sister smiled against his chest and hugged him tighter. "Bastard." She mumbled and listened to the breath he exhaled in a snort as she heard steps coming towards them.

"Lyra? What is taking you so long?" Her mother called and came into the kitchen only to find two of her three children and her sword standing in front of each other, while facing her. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, mom. I just showed Lyra another one of my tricks." Aiden said smoothly, while smirking.

Thorunn frowned at her second oldest son and crossed her arms. "What tricks?"

A smirk graced Aiden's aristocratic features. "Watch this." He said and raised his hand in graceful movements, while a green light shimmered around them. Thorunn and Lyra watched in awe as the bowls of salad were lifted into the air and set themselves on the cooking island behind them. Proudly grinning at his work he looked at his mother and sister, while waiting for an answer.

His sister as the first to recover and squealed in excitement. "That is awesome, Aiden. I didn't know you could do that next to the magic Uncle Loki taught you."

"Does your father know you can do this?" His mother asked next, looking torn between her emotions.

Aiden nodded, smiling reassuringly at his mother. "Yes. He supervised Uncle Loki teaching me."

"How long?" Thorunn asked stepping closer.

Suddenly the boy began to feel uneasy. There was a reason why they hadn't told his mother about this special power and that there was someone else, who trained him beside his uncle. Swallowing he looked at his mother with his two green eyes and opened his mouth to speak. "Six years."

His mother's jaw dropped. "Was that way you had to switch school back then?"

Aiden avoided her eyes. "Kinda…"

At this the blonde sighed and hugged her son tight. "Oh, darling, why didn't you tell me?"

"Different reasons." Aiden confessed sighing. "Mainly because Kane was always the one with the amazing powers and I only the 'spare', who only served purpose if something happened to the crown prince. But other than that I was just overwhelmed and didn't know how to deal with a power that even my uncle couldn't achieve."

Thorunn's eyes watered at her son's words. "No… you are not the spare for Kane. You are your own person, you have the choice to be whoever and whatever you want to be. And those powers only chose a strong individual with a great future. So embrace them and make us proud."

The blond was stunned at his mother's words, he certainly didn't expect such an answer, but he loved his mother even more for it. "Thank you, mom." He breathed and hugged her small form tighter to him and only a second later felt his sister join the hug.

"Okay." His mom said as she pushed away and brushed a few tears out of her eyes. "I think we should set the salads on the table and wake your brother and father before the others arrive." Nodding her two children followed their mother out in into the garden again, before heading upstairs to wake their brother.

* * *

"Who has the honors?" Aiden asked smirking as he leaned in the doorway to his brother's room.

His little sister smirked as well and looked up to him before mentioning for him to enter the room. "I think it's your turn, dear brother."

"I hate you." Aiden said sighing and stepped forward. Raising his hands the blond concentrated on the task at hand. Only a second later he watched his hands be engulfed in a mixture of light and emerald green energy. His hands twitched a little as he moved them with such grace that Lyra was more than impressed. She watched the energy floating over to her oldest brother and settling around his head, before his eyes shot open while a yelp escaped his lips.

As his body shot into a straight sitting position his right fist began to glow bright white and was raised to punch the one responsible for his not so gentle wake-up call, but stopped when his eyes landed on his sister, who now sat at the foot of his bed smiling brightly at him.

"Morning, brother." He heard a voice that didn't belong to his sister, whereupon he cast his eyes to his younger brother, who stood next to his bed. "Sweet dreams?", he then asked, a sly smirk gracing his lips.

Kane furrowed his brows and glared at his brother. "I know your visions when I see one, blondie. And I will repeat myself only this once: stay _the fuck_ out of my head!"

"Calm your tits, man. Mom told us to wake you, the others will arrive soon." Aiden told him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Kane ran a hand through his red hair and looked at his little sister. "How soon?"

Lyra just shrugged. "15 Minutes?"

"What?!" Wide-eyed the redhead jumped out of his bed and began to collect clothes to wear.

"Calm down, beauty queen." Aiden said, chuckling. "You know that Uncle 'Zar and the lot won't arrive on time, so no pressure."

Kane groaned and headed for the shower. "How come you are even awake before me, Barbie?"

"You can thank Flipper for that." Aiden said as he sat down next to Lyra and put an arm around her shoulders.

"And you didn't think of me first?" Kane asked, while he faked hurt. "I'm your oldest brother! I was the first to hold you when you were a newborn."

Lyra snorted, while Aiden raised his left eyebrow which was split by a scar that he got back in his middle school years. "Correction, idiot. We both held her and furthermore that argument was completely beside the point."

Kane grumbled something along the lines of 'stupid know-it-all' and left for the bathroom out of which their father just stepped. "Well good morning, you three."

"Morning, Dad." Lyra just beamed at her father, skipped over to him and kissed his cheek before she turned to her brothers.

Kane just rushed past their father with a quick "Mornin'." and disappeared into the bathroom, which caused the other redhead to chuckle. He then turned to his second son and clapped him on the shoulder. "How are you feeling, bud'?"

Aiden just shrugged to hide his wince from his father's clap. "Quite good. Can't wait for the next session."

James chuckled. "Always so sarcastic…" He sighed. "Anyways, we should go downstairs, your mother might be already waiting."

* * *

"Finally, what took you so long?" Thorunn asked as her oldest decided to show up in the garden.

Kane rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. "I'm sorry, Mom. I still had to do my hair."

The blonde sighed and soothed her own hair back. "Fine then. The others are about to arrive, so behave."

"Why should we behave, they've known us all our lives." Aiden argued, while looking between his mother and the pancakes on his plate.

James chuckled. "He's got a point, Love."

Thorunn just sighed and contemplated what to say when she saw a group of people approach. "Amber, Selena!", she called, stood up and hurried over to hug the women.

Lyra sighed and gave a strained smile before she rose to greet the rest of their extended family, which did not go unnoticed by either Aiden or Kane, who shared a meaningful look after this. "Boys, come on!", their father called, which caught their attention and caused them to walk over to the gathering.

"Kane, my man!" A tanned, tall, brunette guy called and walked over to the brothers and hugging the older. "Long time, no see. How've ya been?"

"Great. How've you been, Luke?" Kane asked as he was swarmed by four other teens, all of them around his and Aiden's age, the youngest being half a year older than his sister. "Kiara, Tylak, Tyson, Kari." He greeted smiling.

"I've been great. Wakanda is awesome, you need to visit some time." Luke said and let his yellow eyes roam the garden. "Where's Aiden and Lyra?"

Frowning Kane turned around only to come face to face with Kiara. Her green eyes sparkled as her black hair framed her beautiful face. The only problem was that she was slightly annoying when she fawned over him, constantly. "Hi, Kiara."

"Hi, Kane." She sighed.

"Have you seen my brother and sister?" He asked next, whereupon she shrugged. _Oh man…_ "Tyson, Kari, have you seen my siblings?"

The two brunettes turned and looked at him with their green eyes. If he didn't know better he would say the two of them were twins, but instead Kiara and Tylak were twins. And they couldn't be more different. "I think they are with Nate and Ash." Kari answered him, smiling. She reminded him of Lyra, always so cheerful and full of life. Smiling Kane thanked the girl and went on to look for the two platinum blond boys and his siblings.

After a few minutes of small talk with the attending adults Kane finally found the ones he was looking for. "Aiden! Why did you leave me alone over there?"

"Hm?" The blond asked as he turned. "Oh, sorry, man but I got distracted with this little monster here." He pointed behind him to Lyra, who was talking to Nathan and Ashton. Kane immediately understood, he knew that both twins had at one point a crush on his sister and he would be damned if he didn't at least try to keep them off her back.

"Right… Lyra!" He called and saw Aiden face palm next to him. "I think it's time to eat. You coming?"

His sister frowned at him and nearly impaled him with her silvery gaze. "Mom didn't call for us. What's going on with you two?"

"Kids! Come, it's time to eat!" The voice of their mother rang out and both Aiden and Kane sighed in relief. The wrath of their sister was something they didn't want to deal with right now. Lyra sighed as well and shot both of them a look that meant that their conversation wasn't over yet before she went over to the table with the twins in tow. The two remaining brothers shot each other one last glance before they joined their extended family at the table.

* * *

To say the gathering was fun, was accurate. To say it was nice to spend time with his friends out of school was great, was mostly correct. To say the gathering wasn't a complete chaos at the end, was a full out lie. It started normal enough with funny conversations and no interruptions, but at some point Francis and James began to throw insults at one another concerning their past. At the other end of the table Kiara began to heavily hit on Kane again, while Aiden and Lyra just sat opposite of them and stared confused. At some other point Tyson began to bother his siblings with small shocks of electricity, which caused a full out fight on their lawn. And the worst was that the rest of the adults just pretended neither was happening.

"Oh, Lyra." Pym suddenly called, which caused the blonde to look up. "How's school going?"

The girl stiffened a bit in her seat, which Aiden noticed immediately. "Quite good, just a lot of stress. And with Kari and Thomas having graduated it's a bit quiet."

"But you surely have other friends that keep you company, don't you?" Selena asked, smiling sweetly at her.

Lyra swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled at her aunt. "Of course."

Aiden quickly cast his gaze over to his brother, who was eyeing their sister carefully before meeting eyes with his brother. He knew it too… their sister totally lied when she said that, but why would she? Didn't she have lots of friends last time they picked her up from school? They needed to investigate on that.

Soon the fights cleared and the younger generation took on a game of their powers, two teams against one another in a spar like fight that lasted way too long. As soon as it was over the families gathered at the front gate and bid their goodbyes until the Rogers' were alone on their ground again.

Thorunn sighed. "Finally. I love them but all together at on table…"

James chuckled, put an arm around his wife and kissed her forehead. "I know. Now, what about you take a hot bath and the kids and I clean the mess the family made?"

The blonde sighed and looked lovingly at James. "I love you, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." James said, chuckling and leaned down to kiss her meaningfully. "The three brats back there are the proof of that, I think. You wouldn't put up with them and me when you didn't love us."

Thorunn grinned and kissed James again before replying. "True." With that she walked back into the house to leave James and their children to clean the garden.

Sighing the redhead walked back into the garden to find his three children sparring under a few trees. Lyra flying around the tree, Kane throwing his galactic punches at Aiden and him blocking them with his magic and close combat skills. He smirked at himself for being a part of their lives and for partly giving them life. He couldn't love them more unconditionally than he already did, they could murder someone on cold blood, become an evil mastermind and he would love them with all his heart. And never in his 'two lives' could he have imagined for this to be his reality at some point.

"Hey, brats!", he called over to them, causing all three to look at him. "Like to help me clean this mess?" Laughing his three children approached him and Aiden ran after Lyra as she tried to run into the house to escape the cleaning. In the end they helped him and James watched the three working with so much love in his eyes, just as much love Thorunn held in her eyes as she watched the scene from the bathroom window upstairs. She as well wouldn't have something like that ever being her reality. Back in Asgard she often had nightmares about a loveless marriage and feared that she wouldn't love the children that came out of the wedlock as much as she would have loved a lovechild. Luckily she didn't have to face an arranged marriage and could love and marry whoever she redeemed worthy… and gods was James worthy of her love and the children that came from their love couldn't be loved more than they were. Thorunn could really say that her life and that of her children was truly perfect.

* * *

 **AN/: Hi, guys! I missed you! Thank you for all your kind words and support, I really appreciate it. I know it's been way too long, but I'm back now. :***

 **So here we are finally, Book II of the next Avengers. I decided to post it in the first 'cause I didn't have a title and wanted to ask you what the title should be and if it should be more like a story of their normal teenage lives or if you want action and fights and that stuff, because if you do I need villian, a really sick on! :)**

 **I'm also interested in your ships, so who do you ship?**

 **Where do you think is Kate?**

 **Do want single descriptions of the children in the next Author's Note?**

 **What do you think Lyra is hiding from her family concerning school?**

 **All in all I hope you really liked this chapter and will like where this story will go wether you want a teenage-life-story or Second Generation Next Avengers Action story :)**

 **Either way this chapter plus the next will be posted as a new story, just look for a title that was submitted in the review section ;)**

 **I can't wait to hear from you guys, I love you so much! 3**

 **Lots of Love, Annie :***


	2. The Life of Heroes' Children

**AN/: Hi guys! :)**

 **So I finally managed to publish the second chapter of Lurking Shadows and I must say I didn't plan on it being so long, but I hope you'll like it. One reason it is a bit longer is that I wanted to include the last scene of the most mentioned young ship so far, just for you as a sneak peek of what is to come. ;)**

 **So as promised I'll give you a description of the new main characters** **So let's start! :)  
**

 **Rogers** **:**

 **first born: Kane Anthony Rogers  
\- Red hair, blue eyes, 6'3"**

 **– powers like a god (god of cosmos)**

 **\- Nicknames by his younger brother: douche face, beauty queen**

 **second born: Aiden Loki Rogers  
\- light blond, one light green, one emerald colored eye, 6'2"**

 **\- similar powers to his uncle Loki's; protégée of Captain America - Cap Jr**

 **\- nicknames by his older brother: Barbie, blondie, know-it-all**

 **Third born: Lyra Jane Rogers**

 **\- long blonde hair that gets lightly red at the tips, mercury eyes, 5'5"**

 **\- can fly and has the control over water, ice and molecules**

 **\- nicknames by her siblings: Flipper, Pancakes, Sprinkles, Squirt**

 **Munroes** **:**

 **\- 3 boys; 2 girls**

 **-first boy: Luke - black panther III (brunette, yellow eyes)**

 **-first girl: Kiara - powers of Electricity (green Eyes / black Hair)**

 **-second boy: Tylak - powers of Electricity (Black hair, yellow eyes)**

 **-third boy: Tyson - calls himself Wakandian tiger, has also electric powers (Brunette / green eyes)**

 **-second girl: Kari - is called silver leopard (Brunette / green eyes)**

 **Bartons:**

 **\- twin boys**

 **\- 1st Nathan - Nate for short (Platinum blonde, dark grey eyes, if one didn't know better appear black)**

 **-2nd Ashton - Ash for short (Platinum blonde, dark blue eyes)**

 **Pyms:**

 **-boy: Thomas (Black hair, mother's eyes)**

 **That's all of the children, I apologize that some descriptions aren't that detailed, it's just that I'm still working on the detailes, but I hope you like it.**

 **Finally I want to thank you for reviewing and yes, Tori, I saw your reviews and let me say, I love you just as much as all of you out there! You don't know how much you mean to me and that you are sticking with me through these two stories just means a lot to me. :)  
**

 **Concerning the frequency of my updates I will try to update every five reviews, but we'll see how much my life will intervene in my writing. But I will update! Promise!**

 **Lastly I wanted to ask you how your life is where you live? I mean you know so much about me and I want to learn some things about you.** **So what's live like where you are now, when you are reading this? Let me know in the reviews.**

 **Okay, enough said. I hope you like this chapter and I'll see you in the next chapter.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

 _The Life of Heroes' Children_

"Lyra!" Oh, you've got to be kidding her… "Honey, you need to stand up! Your brothers are taking you to school in an hour!"

The young girl groaned and turned over. "Just five more minutes, Mom!"

For a moment there was silence so that the Asgardian princess thought her mother had stopped bothering her until she heard her door opening. "I'm serious, young lady!"

"Give me thirty minutes…" The smaller blonde sighed and pushed herself out of her bed, only to come face to face with her mother in the door. "I need a shower first."

Smiling her mother nodded and left her room again, before Lyra stood up to grab clothes for the day and headed to the shower. Taking a deep breath Lyra stepped into the shower, while trying not to think about the day before her. After washing her hair she stepped out of the shower, dried and dressed herself. Lyra then went back to her room to get ready and headed downstairs, where her family was sitting at the table and chatted about whatever.

"We received word from Asgard." Her mother said as she sat her tea cup down, which caused Kane's head to perk up. "Your grandmother requested your presence for political and royal obligations."

These words caused a grim expression to grow on Aiden's face that Lyra knew too well. He was thinking he was to spare again, the second son, the black sheep of the family… But he wasn't! Aiden was always the first to pick up on things, to notice the slightest differences and he was a great leader. Together her brothers were invincible, two strategic masterminds and incredibly talented with their powers. If you thought about it, it was kind of scary to sit at one table with the Crown Princess and Prince of Asgard, who was labeled the God of Cosmos at the same time, the current Captain America and his protégée that was also a master of Asgardian magic. But no one knew that much only who their parents were, which could cause a few problems…

Lyra had to stop herself from thinking too far into it and instead smiled at her blond brother as her dad spoke up. "Then Aiden can accompany me to the headquarters and train a bit more."

"That would be great, dad." Aiden said, grinning lightly before his eyes landed on his sister. "But I need to drive Pancakes over there to school first."

Sighing the little blonde rolled her eyes. Aiden came up with the most ridiculous nicknames for her just based on things she liked or did. "You don't need to, I can walk there." _Please say, it's okay!_

Aiden eyed her skeptically and chewed on his pancakes before he answered. "If you say so… Do you need me to pick you up?"

"No, that's fine, I'll walk back." Lyra beamed, stood up and kissed each member of her family on the cheek. "See you!" She called before she grabbed her bag and left through the front door. For a moment Lyra leaned against the door and took a deep breath. Maybe, just maybe she could spend one school day in peace. Nodding to herself the young girl pushed off the door and made her way to school, hoping for a good day.

* * *

She made it early to school, so early that the halls were empty when she strode through them on her way to her locker near the back doors that lead to the pitch good hundred yards away from the school building. As she reached it, she unlocked it with a sigh while looking at all the pictures adorning the inside of her locker. When the last of her friends graduated they gave her photos of them and her so that she wouldn't forget them and would always have something to give her courage. _That worked well…_

Slowly other students began crowding the halls so Lyra took that as her cue to head to her first class of the day: English. Walking into the classroom she took her seat in the back and waited for her classmates to join and the lesson to start.

"They weren't here this morning?" Only seconds after Lyra had heard the minor shocked outburst a group of girls came into the room and quieted a bit as they noticed the blonde.

The raven haired girl in the group proceeded explaining. "I just told you." She said, casting a glance at Lyra over her shoulder. "She must've come alone."

The girls groaned and said things like 'why did I even dress up' or 'the bitch must've convinced them to let her go alone'. But instead of saying something Lyra just kept her mouth shut and doodled on her paper.

It was not five minutes later when the queen of this school walked in with an aura of superiority around her as she looked at Lyra like she was the dirt under her designer shoes. "Well, hello there." She said in der British accent and cocked her hip out while she smirked at Lyra. "If that isn't our little, black sheep."

Lyra just sighed but said nothing. She knew it was pointless. "At the loss of words, sheep? That's sad, we've been waiting for you to bleak and cause paranormal things to happen." Her friends just giggled. "Your parents and brothers must be so proud of the freak that you are."

"Beatrix! Stop it!" Their just then arriving teacher bellowed, whereupon the blonde rolled her eyes and sat down in her own seat. Her teacher searched her eyes with his before he raised his voice again. "Are you okay, Lyra?"

The said girl only nodded and watched as her teacher began the day's lesson. During the lesson Lyra could still hear the girls talking about her and she hated it. Taking deep breaths she tried to control her powers before something "strange" would happen again. _Strange…_ Lyra scoffed to herself. Strange was such a foul word to describe the powers she had. In her eyes they were beautiful and gentle if she wanted them to be, but they were also unpredictable if Lyra didn't control herself, which caused those "strange" things to happen. And those uncontrolled moments made her life in school a living hell.

While Lyra was thinking of a way to avoid the girls in her class for the rest of the day the lesson dragged on and only the ringing bell managed to bring the blonde back to reality. She quickly packed her things and hurried out of class with a quiet "See you later, Coach." to her teacher before she went to her next class.

The day dragged on as slow as usual but Lyra managed to get through every class without being noticed too much or made too much fun of. Lunch was different though. As usual Lyra was sitting alone at a table in the far back and ate her lunch as the five girls from her class sat at a table nearby so she could hear every word they said.

"Do you think the red-head would go out with me, if I asked?" One of the girls asked dreamily.

Beatrix snorted. "As if he would like that big forehead of yours. Besides that cutie will be all mine as soon as I convinced him what a freak his sister is."

"Do you think she is doing these strange things to them at home? So that they like her?" Another girl, a blonde with purple dip-dye, asked.

Beatrix just shrugged. "Would explain a lot…"

Lyra decided not to listen anymore and get going but as soon as she made it past the girls' table something hit the back of her head. Hard. Lyra let out a quiet yelp and touched the back of her head with shaking fingers to find something squishy and sticky there. "Damn it, I thought it would hit the dumpster!" Exclaimed the strawberry blonde girl in the group.

"You can't throw glass into a dumpster, Cassy…" Beatrix said rolling her eyes. "Besides, I think you hit it anyway."

Lyra balled her hands into fists at that, whereupon the molecules around her moved so fast that the glass that hit her head burst into a million pieces on the ground, causing the girls to squeak in surprise. "There! She did it again!" Cassy yelled.

"And have you seen her hair? It swung around! There isn't any wind in here, how is that possible?!" A raven haired girl exclaimed. "I bet it's the source of all what's happened!"

Before Beatrix could even say something Lyra made her way out of the cafeteria and into the next bathroom to clean her hair of what seemed to be pudding. When she was done Lyra headed out of the bathroom and over to her locker to get the last book she needed for the day before she would be able to train. But just as she reached her locker and opened it, she heard an all too familiar voice behind her.

"Hello there, little sheep. I see you were able to get all the pudding out of your hair… What a shame, in my opinion the color of mud suited you really well." Beatrix said and looked at the pictures in Lyra's locker and touched a picture with her and her family. "Don't you want to answer me? It's impolite not to answer a partner in a conversation."

The girls around them laughed and straightened their cheerleader uniforms, before Beatrix raised her voice again.

"Okay, let's try again. Tell me, freak, how come your whole family is so talented and hot and you're so… annoyingly ugly and creepy?" Beatrix asked Lyra grinning while the blonde was facing her locker and clawed its door. She had to stay in control… "As I thought, she's a mute! Thank goodness we don't have to listen to her goddamn annoying voice anymore. C'mon girls, lets head to practice. I think we need to get out of her range before something strange happen to us, like turning into a freak like her."

Laughing the girls walked away and let Lyra standing alone in the hallway. When the blonde was sure that the five of them were gone she heaved a shaky breath and tried to collect herself. _It'll be over soon…_ Straitening her posture and sighing after she closed her locker Lyra made her way to her last class for the day before she would head over to the gym and get to train. She just couldn't wait to punch some boxing sacks and run a good parkour before going home.

* * *

"And then you will have to sing this declaration on the Asgardian economy and see the high gods on other delicate matters." Sif said while shoving papers in front of Kane as his mother sighed and leaned back in her seat watching her son suffer.

"You will have to let me read it first before I sign anything." Kane insisted and shoved the additional paper work away that Sif put on his desk. "And I believe you are aware that I'm not yet king, let alone crown prince due to the fact that the actual crown princess and soon-to-be queen of Asgard is sitting in this room."

Sif just chuckled and proceeded her former activities. "Of course and I'm sure you know that some matters are simply not-"

"Grandmother, enough!" Kane exclaimed causing the now slightly older woman to shut up. "May I have some privacy with my mother? I will see to my other matters as soon as I can." Sif just nodded and left the room and the moment the door fell shut the young prince let out a frustrated groan before letting his head fall on the surface of his desk.

He didn't look up as he heard heavy skirts being dragged across the floor and it wasn't long before he felt gentle hands on his arm and back. "She'll calm down."

Kane snorted and sat up straight again as he faced his mother. "I know… but she is even more insistent than ever before. And with all the tasks she is giving me I can barely keep my mind straight. But anyway, what is that declaration about?"

And with that Kane concentrated on his work again, causing Thorunn to sigh. "I know what that feels like, darling. I once sat right where you sit now, crying in frustration with all of this."

Kane dropped the parchment and looked at his mother in awe. She always seemed so head-strong and determined, but to hear that confession from her stunned him beyond believe as it would any child when they saw their parents' weak side. "You did?" Suddenly he felt like a child again, in a world full of wonders and uncertainties, a world in which his destiny was still written in the stars and didn't spread out in front of him.

Thorunn chuckled and ruffled his hair as if he was that child again. "Of course. I was once young, too, you know. And my mother pressured me to fulfill my duties fast and without questioning their purposes. But I couldn't do that. What kind of queen would I be one day if I didn't question the intensions behind the papers I signed? Who would I be if I had listened to her demands and married a man I didn't love? Where would you be then?" She looked into his bright eyes and smiled. "Do you get my point?"

"I… I think I do. As a future king I need to make my own choices, trust my heart and not my advisors." Kane said, even if it was a bit unsure.

His mother nodded, smiling. "You get the gist. But it isn't wrong to tend to people you trust the most." With that she got up from her position on the ground and walked to stand in front of his desk.

Kane furrowed his brows at this until his expression changed to surprise. "You can't mean-… Mom, you know he would refuse, thinking it was a way to involve him, to not feel-"

"I know." She cut him off. "But remember what I told you when you were younger?"

Kane's eyes bore into his mother's and he knew the answer she was looking for. "Together you are invincible." They finally said in unison, causing them both to grin.

"Thank you, mom." Kane said, grateful and walked over to Thorunn to hug her and kiss the top of her head. She smiled against his chest and chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing." Thorunn said and pulled back from her son. "It's just that I wonder how Rogers-men manage to soak up all the genes to get this tall and the attitude to always kiss the top of a females head when they hug."

Kane laughed at that and took the declaration from his desk before replying. "I guess we had a great role model."

"You are just like him." Thorunn agreed and accompanied her son to the door of his office in his living quarters. "So… are you going to ask him?"

Sighing Kane opened the door for his mother and leaned against it. "I could at least try, could I not?"

"That's my boy." Thorunn said, grinning before soothing out her skirts a bit. "I will go to your grandmother and try to reason with her, maybe see to the matters to discuss with the high gods."

Kane nodded in gratitude and walked out after his mother. He then made his way to the Biefrost to be transported to the grounds of Avengers Headquaters.

* * *

"Okay, listen up, Punks!" The instructor yelled at his recruits, whereupon the men straightened and looked at their supervisor. "Today we have a special training session prepared for you by a special guest. Captain America!"

Mumbling could be heard between the soldiers before their instructor barked at them to be quiet. "Could you Pussies shut your mouths so I could introduce you to our guests?" The soldiers quieted down so their supervisor could do as he asked to do. "So please welcome my old friend, James Rogers alias Captain America."

The soldiers clapped and looked at the door through which James and Aiden entered the gym. James grinned brightly and walked over to the instructor to give him a manly hug. "Good to see you again, 'Zar."

"Good to see you too, man." Azari said grinning before hugging Aiden and facing his soldiers again. "Okay then, Punks! Here's your task. Each of you will spar against one of our best students." Azari said, clapping Aiden on the back. "My nephew Aiden Rogers."

Slight outrage seemed to roam under the soldiers until one of them spoke up. "With all due respect, Mr. Munroe, Sir, but isn't his mother an Asgardian goddess?"

James kept quiet and Azari prepared to yell at his recruit again as Aiden stepped forward and raised his voice. "My parentage will be of no concern for this task. You may use whatever weapon or technique you redeem appropriate against me, I won't use my Asgardian powers in a fight against you. Nevertheless you should understand that in this job, as a backup for the Avengers themselves, you will be facing far worse than simple hand-to-hand combat." He emphasized as he walked up to the soldier.

"And you will have to learn that not everything you see-"Aiden began again before the yelp of that one soldier cut him off as he watched him fall to the ground. The other soldiers gasped as the saw the reason for their comrade's fall. Behind where their comrade had been standing stood Aiden himself, it's impossible that he would stand there twice, right? But he stood there, right across from himself. "Is what it seems to be." The Aiden behind the soldier's position concluded as he walked over to the other him and wiped his hand right through his smirking self's chest, whereupon it dissolved into shimmery green mist.

Grinning James crossed his arms and waited for Aiden to turn back around to face the recruits before he spoke up. "So, who wants to go first?"

After a short while one of the recruits volunteered to go first and lost after barely two minutes in hand-to-hand combat against Aiden. Others followed and all of them lost their fight against the young blond without him breaking too much of a sweat. As soon as the last one fell to the ground and groaned at the impact James and Azari ginned proudly at Aiden before the latter spoke up. "Well, now that no one was able to defeat our young protégée you will have to run another ten miles through our trainings parkour." The recruits groaned, causing Azari to smirk. "Unless there is one who manages to defeat him."

There was silence for a good minute until they heard someone calling from the back of the room. "Can I try?"

All heads turned towards the voice and Aiden's posture immediately straightened even more. James just chuckled and shook his head and Azari furrowed his brows, confused. "How come you are here and not in Asgard attending your business, Kane?" He then asked.

"I'm attending my business here, by speaking to my brother." Kane said and locked eyes with Aiden.

The latter frowned. "What do you need me for in Asgard?"

"That's a matter better discussed in private, but I make you a deal." Kane said as he began to shed his robes so he only wore a shirt and pants, not those expansive Asgardian robes, and walked over to his brother. "If I manage to defeat you in hand-to-hand combat, you will agree to what I have to offer you and these poor soldiers get the day off." He said, whereupon the soldiers cheered. "But if I lose I'll do whatever you want me to do. Deal?"

Aiden visibly considered his brother's offer before sighing and walking up to him. "Deal."

With that they made their way over to the matt and prepared to fight. "Okay you two, as soon one of you hits the matt the fight is over and the last man standing is declared winner." Azari said as they prepared. When they were ready and Azari gave them the signal to start the brothers charged at one another. Punches were exchanged and for a while it seemed that no one would win this battle until Kane swung a mighty punch at Aiden which a dodged. As Kane's fist swooshed past the blond's head Aiden grabbed his wrist and fixed it behind his brother's back before hooking his leg under one of Kane's and pulled. It seemed that he would win, but only a second after Kane's feet left the ground he hooked his free leg under Aiden's, on which he stood, and let him tumble to the matt together.

Groaning the brothers hit the matt and turned on their backs. It was quiet for a good minute before the whole Rogers family broke out in laughter. "You did well, Barbie." Kane said, panting.

Aiden let out a chuckle in return. "Not no bad yourself, beauty queen."

Sighing Azari shook his head and faced his recruits. "I guess you are free to go as the battle is tied." That caused the soldiers to salute in unison and march out of the room, whereupon Azari faced the male fraction of the Rogers family. "Are you going to be laying there all day?"

Aiden chuckled and began to sit up again before replying. "Sorry, Uncle 'Zar." He said standing up. "See, on my feet again."

Kane did the same and faced his father who grinned at the both of them. "Why am I not surprised that you wouldn't be able to beat one another without your powers?"

"It seems it's just like mom said." Aiden concluded, causing the older men to frown. "Together we cannot be beaten." Kane finished for his brother before the latter raised his voice again. "Seems like we can't even beat each other."

James just stared for a minute before he began to laugh and walked over to hug his boys briefly. "I'm so proud of the both of you. But about that deal of yours…"

Kane's eyes widened. "Oh, right. I have something to ask you." He turned to Aiden who watched him a confused expression. "I would like you to be my closest advisor in Asgard."

As the words left his mouth he didn't quite get the reaction he was hoping for. His uncle just stared at him blankly while his father seemed surprised. Aiden on the other hand might have had a passive look on his face but Kane could tell behind his closed mouth his jaw was agape. It took him a minute to snort broke past his lips. "You're kidding. There's no way grandma would approve of this, moreover why should I agree when it's just to make me feel better abou-"

Kane's brows furrowed while Aiden talked as he tried to hold himself back, but at that point he heard enough of that shit. "Could you stop that nonsense for once?!" Aiden fell silent and watched his big brother with wide eyes. "I know grandmother treated you like you were only produced in case anything happens to me and I know that you don't feel welcome whenever we're in Asgard. But that isn't true! I say to hell with what grandma believes 'cause I realized one important thing today."

Aiden swallowed and raised his voice. "And what is that exactly?"

Kane smirked. "That I need you as my advisor at court. I need you, blondie."

For a moment the two just stared at each other before Aiden sighed and averted his gaze. Smirking he looked again as he answered his brother. "You had to ruin it, hadn't you?"

Kane immediately knew what that meant, laughed and hugged his brother. "Thank you, you won't regret it."

"I'm pretty sure I will."

* * *

Letting out all her frustration Lyra punched and kicked the punching bag over and over again. After her last period Lyra went over to the gym, changed and trained with her coach and team for two hours on their parkour skills before the training was over. But instead of leaving the young blonde insisted in staying to train a bit more to herself. So here she was wrecking just another punching bag while she imagined it being her bullies.

Lyra got all worked up about her imaginations that she screamed in frustration and swung a final punch at the punching bag, whereupon it broke out of its suspension and flew into opposing wall. Panting the blonde wiped sweat off her forehead before she walked over to a pile of new punching bags and heaved a new one into the hinges. She was about to start boxing again but a chuckle caught her attention.

"Wow, what are you so worked up about?" A voice asked which Lyra immediately recognized.

She sighed, held onto the punching bag so it would stop swinging and faced her childhood friend. "How come you are out without your other half, Nate?"

The platinum blond chuckled and walked over to the smaller blonde. He came close enough that Lyra could distinguish the dark grey of his eyes from their usual black appearance. "Funny… But since you're asking, I wanted to pick you up."

"Oh…" She didn't expect that. "Um, sure." She finally said and walked over to get her bag.

Nate chuckled at her antics and shook his head. "I think you should change first."

Lyra blushed when she realized that she was only wearing tight yoga pants and a sports bra. "I-I'll be right back." And so she hurried to the locker room, leaving a chuckling Nathan behind.

Still chuckling Nate looked around and over to the wrecked punching bag against the wall that was accompanied by two more. Frowning he looked in the direction of the locker room wondering what was going on with her.


	3. Losing Control

**AN/: Hi guys!**

 **Here's chapter three for all of you to read, I hope you enjoy it! :)**

 **Thank you all so much for reviewing, it really means a lot to me!  
**

 **So concerning this chapter, I read a lot of revies asking for more J &T moments and I put a few little snippets in here that I hope you guys like (it hints at their past ;D). Those of you that want to know more about the villian of this story will have to wait a little bit longer for the big reveal, but I promise the action will soon begin. :) Those of you that want to know more about the wedding, well there will be snippets here and there but I'll keep the big reveal to myself until shit is going down ^^  
**

 **For those of you that want to read about the other character more, that will happen soon due to the fact that (SPOILER) Thorunn's coronation is around the corner! Hope you guys are excited cause after that thing will go down :D I can't wait for me to write it and for you guys to read it. I can't wait for your reactions! :D**

 **Okay, enough said. I hope you like this chapter and I'll see you in the next one.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

 _Losing Control_

"So… what were the wrecked punching bags all about?" Nate asked when the two made their way out of the gym and off school property. He has been quiet for a while but the silence was fretting to him. She was his best friend and something was clearly off so he needed to know what. "I mean you've never killed five bags in one workout."

The blonde kept quiet for a bit before she eventually sighed and briefly looked Nate in the eye. "I… It's been a rough day for me. But nothing serious." She smiled as he opened the door to the passenger seat of his car for her.

Nate waited until he sat in the driver's seat before he faced her again. "Nothing serious, come on… I'm you best friend, be honest here."

"I-I…" A sigh escaped her lips before she answered. "It's complicated and it's truly okay, I'll be alright."

Nate looked at her disapprovingly. "Do you want me to scold you about this, or do you-"

"Nate, please." Her eyes were begging him to shut up and so he did. There were very few moments he got that look from her, so this was serious. "I-I'll explain, just drive, okay?"

Sighing Nate started the engine and pulled out of the school's parking lot, heading down the road toward the Rogers' house. After a while Lyra sighed, sounding frustrated, and ran her hand through her hair. "Have you ever felt like you were in a crowded room screaming for help with no one to hear?"

Nate furrowed his brows and quickly looked at Lyra before facing the road again. "I… No, not that I-"

"But it's like that for me, every day I have to go to school. I'm all alone there and don't know what to do. No one there knows of my powers nor understands them they just see me as a freak that has a hot family and I'm just the black sheep of the family."

Nate could see and feel that she was close to crying and gods he hated it when she cried, so he pulled the car over at the next best possibility, stopped the engine and reached over to pull her into a hug. "Shhh… Calm down, I'm here." He pulled back and cupped her face with his hands, looking her straight in the eyes. "And now listen to me. You are not a freak, the powers you have were gifted to you, don't think that they are your curse when they could be your blessing. And you are not the black sheep of the family." Nate said and begin to lightly grin. "You are one hot lass, Lyra. Don't let others slag you just because they are jealous of what you have."

Lyra turned bright red at his words, but managed to smile anyway and hugged him tight again. "Thank you, Nathan."

The boy chuckled at the mention of his full name, because she rarely used it and pulled back from their hug. "Let's get you home." Lyra nodded at this and sat in silence for the rest of the ride before Nate stopped the car in front of her house.

"Thank you." Lyra said and smiled at Nate before reaching over and kissing his cheek, leaving him beat red as she quickly got out of the car. What she didn't know was that bother her parents were sitting in the reading nook upstairs watching the whole scene, which left James grumbling into his non-existent beard.

"What's wrong, honey?" Thorunn asked as she looked up from her book just in time to see Lyra kissing Nathan's cheek.

James grumbled again. "A Barton. Of all people, did it have to be a Barton?" Thorunn just giggled and put aside her book to sit closer to James and watch Nate getting out of his car to talk to her little girl a bit more, both smiling and laughing, which warmed her heart. "I wouldn't have had a problem with any of Azari's boys, or even his girls, or Thomas Pym. But Francis' son? I mean really?!"

"You can't destroy a bond that has already grown. You can't stop love from connecting to people's hearts, my love, remember?" Thorunn asked tenderly as she soothingly rubbed her husband's chest.

James snorted and looked down at Thorunn before a smile made its way on his face. "How can I forget? We've been through so much. At many occasions either one of our lives were at stake but I wouldn't have it any other way… Well, I could have spared seeing you in so much pain the night of Lyra's birth and seeing you nearly taken from me on our wedding day, but-"

Thorunn put a finger on his lips to shut him up before kissing him tenderly. "I did survive her birth and it was worth it. You don't have to feel guilty about that. As to Cian's appearance at our wedding, r well it wasn't something I expected to happen, but father did banish him to the Realm of Shadows for what he did. He won't bother us ever again. And we did get over these haunting dreams, didn't we? We've been through so much together because we truly love each other. Love can conquer anything. And shouldn't we be happy that maybe one of our children has found love? A love that will protect her throughout her live and give her strength when she needs it most?"

For a long moment James just looked into his wife's eyes before he sighed and faced the outside again. "I know, but… a Barton?"

"James!" Thorunn said in a scolding tone while hitting the redhead's shoulder.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'll get the thought of my daughter someday dating a Barton into my head, I promise." James said and sighed, leaning back against the wall.

Thorunn smiled at her husband's behavior. Throughout their daughter's childhood James always feared the day she would grow up and leave and she understood that. But sometimes he got a little too protective of the things he loved the most and believe me when she says she knows what she is talking about. But she also knew how to get her husband's mind off of their daughter.

"Do you know what my favorite memory is that we share?" She asked, smirking.

James lifted an eyebrow at her before suggestively grinning. "The hot sex we had on our wedding night?" He asked, which earned him a hit in the chest.

"No. do you remember when you proposed to me? All romantic in the gym we once trained for the fight against Ultron? We sparred again and you managed to wrestle us to the ground." Thorunn began to explain watching how James' eyes light up. "But that isn't the memory I was referring to."

James frowned. "Which memory do you mean then?"

"Remember that I told you that you would have to ask my father first for my hand in marriage? And how that played out?" By that the blonde grinned widely.

"You can't be serious that you favorite memory is that your mother tried to kill me!" James exclaimed wide eyed.

Thorunn just giggled. "You know, I've never seen my dad so happy before you asked for my hand in marriage." James' eyes softened a bit at that, before she continued. "And my mother wasn't trying to kill you, she just had to relief her anger on something. And we managed to calm her down before some serious damage could be done."

The redhead snorted and crossed his arms. "Yeah… serious damage… I ran through the entire castle to not to be killed!"

Thorunn just smiled, crawling over to her husband's side, kissing him meaningfully and snuggling into him. "I love you, too."

* * *

As the doorbell rang out the next morning Lyra ran towards it, grinning widely. "Hi, Nate!" She greeted happily and walked back into the kitchen to get her bag. "I'm off to school then."

"Okay, sweety." Her mom said, kissing her cheek before putting the dishes in the sink to wash them.

James smiled at his daughter after putting the newspaper down. "Are you sure that none of the boys should drive you to school?"

Lyra just smiled lovingly. "I'm sure. Besides, Nate has to pick his mother up from the airport and my school is just on the way there. We're killing two birds with one stone."

"Well, okay, love." James said, kissing her forehead. "Have a nice day."

The young blonde waved her parents and hurried out of the door. "Ready?" Nate asked as they reached his car, whereupon Lyra nodded and got into his car to be driven to school. The drive was filled with laughter and as the eventually reached the school Lyra had to draw a deep breath to calm herself. "See you?"

The blonde nodded at her best friend. "See you." She said and smiled at him before she got out of the car and walked into the school and past whispering and giggling groups of girls and guys until she reached her locker. After she got all the books she needed Lyra made her way to her first class.

The day dragged on and Lyra prayed to the gods of Asgard that it would soon be over. She was currently sitting in the cafeteria, nibbling on her sandwich and waiting for the bell to ring. She was watching the freshmen and sophomores mingle in the cafeteria and thought back to the time she was in their place, having so much hope and dreams. And now look at her, all alone and unsure what to do.

As the bell rang the young blonde made her way to her next class, which was actually one that interested her more than others, because she could learn and relate more to her powers. When she reached her physics classroom she, again was the first to be there, except for her teacher. She then took her seat in the middle and stared ahead. After the rest of the class had arrives and settled their teacher cleared his throat to begin the lesson.

"Okay, listen up, class. Today's class is going to be about the friction and vibration of molecules. You see this phenomenon…" Their teacher went on and on about the causes and results of such a phenomenon and Lyra couldn't help but soak all that information up and wonder if one day she might be able to do so much more than just let them vibrate.

Being caught up in her thoughts and concentration she didn't realize that the tips of her hair were lightly swaying without any influence by breezes through the room, which didn't go unnoticed by Beatrix and her friends by the windows further in the back of the class. "What is wrong with that bitch?" She asked her friends as she looked at Lyra's hair.

"I don't know…" Cassy said. "I just always found it scary that her hair is getting redder the farther down it goes. Do you think that her witch-power is in there?"

Beatrix frowned and watched Lyra's hair closely. "I don't know, but what I know is that I'm dying to get my hands on that bitch for besting me in every class and denying me a relationship with one of her brothers."

By that Lyra began to hear them talking about her and tried to stay calm. _They were just messing with her head…_ "I mean it's understandable that she is holding onto them, cause who will love her when her spell on them is broken? She will be all alone, that ugly bitch and I cannot wait for her to bath in misery." Cassy hissed.

"We could try to get her expelled or follow her home to see for ourselves if she hexed her family to love her. I mean, look at her. There's no way they could love that face of hers." Beatrix said, which caused Lyra to grip her pen tighter and tighter, while she didn't notice that the glass of the windows began to vibrate.

"Yeah, and what creeps me out the most about her are her eyes. I mean, who has this light eyes? It just creeps me out, it's like she is dead inside. There's nothing beautiful about that." Cassy added while the other girls giggled and agreed, which caused a silent tear fall from her eye as she snapped her pen and only a second later when her teacher barked at the girls to be quiet the widows burst into a million pieces. The shards flew everywhere and students screamed as the glass rained down on them.

Several students were cut by the glass and little amounts of blood dripped out of the thin cuts, even Lyra herself got cut by a few shards on her arms and neck. The teacher was at a loss of words for a few moments and looked around urgently as a few girls wailed in despair when little strands of their hair or clothes were cut. He swallowed and raised his voice again. "Is everyone alright?"

Through the cries of students a loud scream rang through everyone's ears as Beatrix rose from her seat and stared at Lyra with fury in her eyes. "YOU! You did this!"

Lyra's eyes widened in panic while she shook her head. "Please, Beatrix, calm down. How would Lyra have done that?" Her teacher tried to reason. "You should clean up and come back here that I can assure that you are alright while I'll report to the principle."

As soon as the words were out the students hurried out of the room towards the nearest bathrooms or locker rooms and Lyra was no exception. She quickly made her way to the next locker room and let the tears flow that she so desperately held back. Sobbing she went over to the sinks and leaned down to wash her face before going back to the classroom but as she straightened again the young Asgardian let out a yelp of surprise as she spotted Beatrix and her friends in the mirror.

Shaking she turned around and swallowed hard. "W-What do you want from me?"

"You bitch, you did that on purpose, right?!" Beatrix asked furious, while stepping closer to Lyra.

Lyra shook her head and tried to run for the door, which then was blocked by the blonde with the dip-dye hair. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

Cassy laughed and pulled her back into the room before slowly closing in on her towards the showers. "Oh, you know exactly what we are talking about! You did that hex with your hair and suddenly the windows burst? Coincidence? I don't think so!"

"Please, I didn't do such a thing!" Lyra insisted, whereupon another girl snorted, slapped her across the face with the back of her hand and pushed her to the ground where Lyra hid her head on the tiles of the showers. After the dizziness vanished the young blonde pushed herself a little off the ground and looked up at the girls surrounding her, before two girls stepped forward to grab her arms and hold her in place. As they did so Beatrix crouched down in front of her and furrowed her brows in anger.

"Why did you do this to me?!" Beatrix asked her as she grabbed her collar to pull her face closer, before she pushed her back again. "What have I ever done to you?!"

Lyra shook her head and tried to back off. "Let me go, please…"

But Beatrix didn't listen. "Look what you have done to my beautiful face and my hair!" Beatrix wailed, anger drawing all over her features. "You, freak!"

"Please…" Lyra pleaded from her position on the ground. "It wasn't my fault. I didn't mean to hurt you! Please, let me go."

Cassy just laughed hysterically. "Oh, you can beg all you want, but no one will look for you, no one will help you." With that she slapped Lyra square across her face.

The little blonde yelped and held her cheek. Her breathing was ragged and she had to collect all her willpower to not kill the girls on the spot with her powers. "Please, just let me go! I don't want to hurt you any further. I won't be able to control myself."

"Control yourself?" The blonde in the group snorted that held her in place with a brunette. "What do you have to control, freak? You're nothing more than a witch."

"Right. And now we will make you suffer the same way you tormented me and my friends." Beatrix said stepping forward, drawing a pair of rusty scissors from behind her back, causing Lyra's eyes to widen and to struggle against the grip of the two girls that were unfortunately stronger than they looked. Slowly the tears began to fall that Lyra fought so hard to keep back as Beatrix grabbed her hair harshly.

"No, please!" Lyra pleaded, fighting harder against the girls' grasps. She could feel her powers were about to break free as Beatrix was about to cut her hair off and this time she didn't fight it. The shower heads nearly exploded by the force of the water that shot out of them. The girls shrieked and hurried out of the showers as the pipes in the wall began to burst, which Lyra used to escape, but Beatrix's scissors nevertheless managed to tore through Lyra's hair so it was messily cut at shoulder's length.

Quickly Lyra got up and ran out of the showers and changing room to run down the hall, crying and drenched to the bone, only to literally run into her coach. "Lyra? Wha-?" He stopped when he saw the condition she was in and was immediately alarmed. "Oh my god, Lyra, what happened? Who did this to you?" But Lyra didn't answer instead she began to shake and sob. "Okay, just calm down. I'll get you to the nurse."

Slowly but surely they made their way to the school's nurse and got Lyra checked up before they tried to speak to her again. "Lyra, please tell us who did this to you." The nurse said in a gentle tone as she tended to one of the cuts on Lyra's arm.

"I… I don't-" Lyra started but fell silent again as she realized that what she was about to say would have been a straight up lie.

Her coach sighed and tried again. "Lyra, please tell us who did this. They need to be punished for what they did."

"How will you be able to return back to normal if they don't get punished?" The nurse added.

That got Lyra's attention. "Normal? My life has rarely been normal at this school. I don't have any friends and the ones who wanted to be friends with me wanted to date my brothers. The majority of this school thinks I am a freak just because I'm half Asgardian and have powers most people would consider godly that I cannot control a hundred percent! And the only people at this school that know about this is the staff…"

"Lyra, I know that it's hard for you. And if you don't want to attend the school anymore you can just graduate early." The coach told her.

Lyra frowned. "I can… what?"

Her coach smiled at her just like the nurse. "I'm your teacher, Lyra. I know how outstanding your grades are and how much you participate in extracurricular activities. You're the perfect candidate to graduate early."

But before the blonde could answer or even consider the offer of her teacher the door to the infirmary sprang open. "Lyra!" A flash of red and white-blonde stumbled into the room. She immediately knew it were her brothers, but why were they here?

"I called your parents, but they didn't seem to be home, however your brothers were." The nurse explained. "So I told them what happened and they said they would some immediately."

"Lyra, tell us what happened." Kane said as he kneeled down in front of her, his eyes big and begging.

Aiden joined him not a moment later and grabbed her hand. "Flipper, please." And at his tone she cracked. Tears ran down her cheeks and she began to sob violently as she fell forward into her brothers' arms while they caressed her back.

After a few minutes of sobbing Lyra began to speak. "I-I lost c-control of my powers in physics and the windows burst, wh-whereupon the glass sh-shards cut a few students. One of w-which is my b-bully, Beatrix. A-After the teacher told us to go and ch-change and cleanup she and her f-friends closed i-in on me in the changing room. I-I tried t-to leave b-but they shoved me into the showers. T-They hit m-me and B-Beatrix accused me of cutting her o-on purpose. O-One of the sh-shards cut little of h-her hair so she thought that i-it was only f-fair to c-cut mine as well." And with that her voice broke as she sobbed harder into her brothers' chests.

She could feel their anger and felt them drawing back from their embrace, whereupon she clutched her shirts tighter. "They'll pay for this…" Kane hissed under his breath and looked at Aiden, whose eyes burned with fury. "You bet they will." Aiden said, his voice deadly, a tone none of his siblings had ever heard him use before.

"I'd suggest you take your sister home, I will send the necessary documents needed for her to graduate early." The coach said in a helpful, understanding tone.

The boys nodded and helped Lyra to her feet. "Thank you for helping our sister, coach." Aiden said gratefully.

"I will make sure the girls get punished for what they did to Lyra." He assured, earning a nod from Kane.

Before leaving the room Kane answered "That would be much appreciated." And with that the two boys brought Lyra to their car and drove her home.

* * *

The drive home was quiet and Lyra could feel her brothers' anger radiating from them, but didn't dare to say something. Why did they have to find out this way? The blonde sighed internally and looked out of the window, in which she could look into her own puffy, red, 'dead' eyes, as the girls had called them today. This word had caused her to snap, because for her, her eyes weren't dead. Quite on the contrary actually. Since she was young her grandfather had raved to her about his own mother and how she had her eyes, the most beautiful, joyous, alive eyes he'd ever known. He used to tell her stories about her great-grandma, how she loved to read and sing to him, how her eyes always calmed him and how much he loved seeing them again. So to hear that her eyes were dead, that her great-grandmother's legacy was dead, broke her heart.

Blinking the fresh tears away Lyra faced the road again only to see that they were about to pull up on their driveway. Kane parked his car next to their father's and got out, as well as Aiden and herself. The latter smiled lovingly at her as he put an arm around her and guided her inside, where she supposed her parents were waiting for at least the boys to come home, because it was very unusual that both of them would disappear when their parents weren't home.

Kane opened the front door for them and kissed her forehead before whispering. "If you want we'll talk for you."

Swallowing first Lyra shook her head and then smiled up at her oldest brother. "It's okay. I'm fine now."

"Kane? Aiden? Is that you?" They heard their mother call from the living room.

"Yes, it's us!" Kane called back as Aiden closed the door behind them. Only a second later their mother came into the hall with a worried frown on her face that changed into an expression of shock as she caught sight of Lyra.

"Oh my gods, darling, what happened to you?!" She ran over to Lyra and lay a hand gently on her cheek.

Lyra sighed and went in to hug her mother before replying. "I was bullied at school and just today I lost control of my powers and let a whole window front burst into a million pieces what caused the cuts. It also hit my bullies and after our teacher told us to get cleaned up they cornered me and well… one of them cut my hair."

"They did WHAT?!" Her father's infuriated voice rang out, his face red with anger. Lyra could swear he would have killed in that mood.

"It's okay, dad. The coach is handling it and will contact us if they got appropriately punished." Lyra assured and tried to sooth him with her eyes, while her mother soother her hands down his arms and back before leading them into the living room where they sat down on the couches. "In the meantime I thought it would be best to graduate early."

Her mother was surprised. "Honey, are you sure?

Lyra nodded, smiling lightly. "Yes. The coach will send us all necessary documents for me to do so."

"That's great, my love." Her mother smiled proudly at her. "But-" She was cut off by a bright flash in the hallway and immediately was on her feet as an Asgardian messenger made his way into their living room before bowing to his crown princess and prince.

"Your highness, your presence is highly requested by the King and Queen of Asgard concerning an urgent matter." He said.

Thorunn nodded gracefully and Lyra, again, was stunned how quickly and seemingly easy her mother changed from normal to highly formal and regal. "I'm sorry but I have more urgent family matters to handle at the moment. Send the King my regards, but I won't be able to attend."

She was about to turn and go back to her the conversation at hand, but the guard rose his voice again. "With all due respect, your highness, but your Lord Father send me to bring you to Asgard. It's highly important you attend these matters to assure you family's safety."

Thorunn frowned at this. "What do you mean by that?"

The messenger swallowed and cleared his throat before he spoke again. "There are matters concerning the Realm of Shadows."

At this Thorunn visibly paled and James stood to hurry to his wife's side, supporting her when he stood beside her. The soon-to-be Queen shook her head and quickly glanced at James, who nodded, before she looked at the Asgardian again. "I will be on my way." The guard bowed and disappeared as fast as he appeared, whereupon Thorunn slouched in her stance and put a hand on her forehead.

"It's okay, my love. It could be false alarm, who knows. Just go there and listen to your father." James told her and kissed her forehead, causing his wife to smile.

"You're right. Who knows what he wants to talk about." With that the blonde turned to her children and smiled. She went over to Lyra and kissed her forehead lovingly. "I'm sorry, darling, I have to go. But I will send for you as soon as I arrive in Asgard and then we will spend a day alone, just the two of us. We can fix your hair and do all the things you like, okay?"

Lyra just smiled at her mom and wiped a tear from her eyes before nodding. "Love you, mom."

"Love you too, honey." Thorunn said, looking up and smiling at her sons. "All of you."

"You should go." Kane said. "Grandma's not going to be amused that you're late."

Thorunn laughed hugged her oldest son and turned to her younger one. "Keep an eye on your siblings. You're the most rational one."

Aiden smiled and hugged his mother. "I will, I promise."

With that she turned to her husband, who looked tenderly at her. "I love you." He told her, whereupon she leaned into him and kissed him for a few perfect moments. Nevertheless they had to break apart and when they did, they held each other tight for a few more moments. But then Thorunn let go and teleported to Asgard.


	4. Of Training and old Friends

**AN/: Hi guys!**

 **First of all, I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so incredibly sorry it took me so long to update this story. It was just that we renovated my room at home and my job got out of hand and uni and... yeah... sorry.  
**

 **Nevertheless thank you so much for all your love and reviews. I'm fine, I promise. it was just hard to find time to write, so again sorry for the rather short chapter.**

 **So here's a new chapter for you guys and I hope you like it because I talked to my best friend about this story and she asked me where a certain someone was, so I love the idea of including him in the story and it worked really well with what was happening in Asgard and on earth but you will learn more about that in this chapter. :)**

 **Also, if you have ideas on what could/shall happen please tell me in your reviews and I might include it. I'm really excited about what you want to see. I also mentioned a girl at the end of the chapter and I still don't have a name for her. When you know who she is you could leave fitting names in your reviews, I'd really love to include you guys more in the story. Maybe I even open a contest in which one of you can win a guest role or more significant role in this story. So let me know what you think. ;D**

 **Again thank you so much for reviewing, asking if I was okay and reading my story. I love you guys so much! :***

 **But enough said. I hope you like this chapter and I'll see you in the next one.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

 _Of Training, old Friends and new Team Members_

It's been nearly two weeks since the incident at Lyra's school and an equal amount of time in which her brothers wouldn't let her out of their sight for too long. At the moment she was alone with her mother gone to Asgard, her father at Avengers Headquarters', Kane jumping between Asgard and the Headquarters to talk to Aiden and Aiden adjusting to his position as Kane's right hand and future Captain America.

Lyra sighed and put her additional work for early graduation away. She's been doing that all week just to get it over with but this assignment kept bugging her and now she had enough. Grabbing a book the blonde threw herself on her bed and began to read. It wasn't long before her laptop rang out from an incoming skype call so Lyra put her book down and accepted the call. When the black screen began to reveal the person on the other end Lyra smiled, which only widened when sound blasted out of the speakers of her laptop.

"Ash, Tylak, Thomas, for fuck's sake stop that!" Nate barked, looking to the right and then turning around as said boys ran through the background. Nate just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking at the screen again only to freeze when he saw Lyra grinning at him. "Did you hear that?"

"What do you think?" Lyra asked, smirking.

Nate chuckled and shook his head before mumbling a quiet "Sorry".

The blonde smiled but shook her head. "I know you can be a jerk if you want to. You seem to forget that we've known each other all our lives."

"Trust me, I don't." Nate scoffed before he grinned at her again. "So what are you up to?"

"Nothing much tried to get that last assignment done," Lyra told him with a sigh. "And you?"

Nate was about to answer when a loud screech came from her speakers. The platinum blond made a noise of frustration before he looked at Lyra again. "I'll be back in a minute." He told her and turned his microphone off. Only a second later he was out of the picture and all she could see were occasional lightning or arrows flying past the camera and even Thomas flying past, his face full of panic. Lyra rolled her eyes and waited for Nate to appear back in front of the screen.

He eventually did so and turned his microphone back on. "So, where were we?"

"You ran off to hunt down our friends." She told him, smiling. "Are you still at the Academy? I thought you would spend time with your mom, now that she is back."

"We all spend time with her last week. I mean she was just on a lot of jobs in a row and you know…" Nate said, rubbing the back of his head.

Lyra shook her head and smiled tenderly at her friend. "I know that it's been complicated between your parents and you and your mom. Just give her a chance to connect with you again."

Nathan sighed and nodded. "I'm trying but with her constantly gone… I don't know if I can get used to having her back home so fast."

"I understand… How's Ash coping?" The blonde asked while shifting her position on her bed.

Nate shrugged. "Same, I believe…"

"Please don't be such a dick to him, okay?" Lyra asked, whereupon Nate's jaw dropped. But before he could answer a familiar thatch of platinum hair.

"Thank you! Finally, someone tells him that!" Ash exclaimed and looked at her with his deep blue eyes. "How are you by the way? And I like your hair that way, it flatters you."

Lyra smiled wholeheartedly at her friend while blushing a bit before she replied. "Thanks and I'm okay, I guess. Just a lot of stuff to do before I'm able to graduate. How's training going?"

"Getting better…" Ash shrugged and pulled an arrow from his quiver to work on the tip. "It would be so much better when you were here with us."

"Aaaww…" Lyra said, beginning to grin as she saw Nate's face next to his brother's.

He growled and shoved his brother a little out of the way so he could look at the screen again. "Would you two stop pretending I'm not here?"

Ash's eyes suddenly gleamed as a joyous grin split his face. "Uh, do you remember that game we used to play?"

"What was basically ignoring his existence?" Lyra asked, arching an eyebrow. "Yeah, I remember. And to be honest it was a terrible game! Nathan didn't deserve that kind of treatment most of the time."

"Thank you!" Nate exclaimed before frowning and crossing his arms defensively. "Hey!"

Ash and Lyra just chuckled at his antics and apologized before her bedroom door was opened in the background. "Lyra?" Surprised the blonde turned around to come face-to-face with her younger older brother before turning back to the screen of her laptop. "I'll see you guys in a bit." With that, she closed her laptop and turned to look at Aiden again. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Actually, there are matters at hand that needs your expertise…" Aiden said and slowly began to smirk. "I have a terribly immature Next Avengers team at the Academy and-" He didn't even manage to finish that sentence before Lyra jumped off her bed and flung herself at him.

"Oh my gods, thank you!" She practically screamed in his ear and kissed his cheek. "Thank you so much!"

A chuckle was heard before strong arms were put around Lyra's tiny waist. "I figured that being home alone had to be awful and at the academy, you could be of good use for the team."

"Dad said nothing about me being there?" She wanted to know as she hurried to her closet to pack her training's bag. When her brother didn't reply she let her bag drop and turned to him, crossing her arms – a pose she copied from her mother when she scolded her brothers, father, and uncles. "He has no idea that I'm coming, has he?"

"Not exactly…" The older blond rubbed his neck in nervousness at his sister's behavior.

Lyra just frowned deeper. "Aiden, what did you do?"

"It wasn't like he was opposed to it or that it was his idea…" Aiden began backing up a bit. "He merely complained about the fact that the Next Avengers are no team and that they were missing a link, so… I thought of you." As Lyra just glared at him more intensely he gulped and continued. "And I thought when you can keep this family together with mom so that Kane, dad and I don't kill each other why wouldn't you manage to do that to a bunch of young heroes? Your powers and capability to fight are just a bonus…"

Aiden was a lot more nervous when Lyra approached him with a fierce glare and stopped right in front of him. "Fine, I'm letting you off the hook, 'cause what you just said was awfully sweet. But just this time!" She warned, causing Aiden to grin and hug her again.

"Shall we go then?" He asked as he picked up her bag by the closet.

Lyra just nodded, smiling at her brother. "We shall."

Aiden pulled his car up in the parking lot of Avengers' HQ before he and Lyra got out and walked over to the main hall. "So, you ready?" He asked when they approached the door to the training hall.

"I suppose… I'm a bit nervous." Lyra told him honestly while she pulled her short hair back into a half-up ponytail. "I know that I don't have to be because I grew up with these weirdos but… I've never been part of a team before." Aiden just smiled at his younger sister and pulled her into a quick hug before he pushed one of the doors to the hall open and led the girl inside.

The moment the doors opened any action in the hall ceased and every pair of eyes turned to look at the door and who might enter mid-session. The first figure to come into the hall was a tall, lean blond, who everyone recognized as Captain America's younger son, so every trainee just minded their own business again, not giving a damn about what he had to say. His father, on the other hand, frowned and crossed his arms. That was until he saw his daughter enter after his son, causing his face to fall. A bunch of shouts of joy could be heard before the Next Avengers ran past him and tackled his daughter in a massive group hug.

He watched his son leave his sister's side and walk over to him before he raised his voice to scold his boy. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Okay, listen to me first before you scold me any further," Aiden told his father and held his hands up in front of him.

Growling James was about to reply but was cut off by a voice from his right. "I would let him explain himself." Upon that the two males turned their head and spotted the former Captain America walking towards them while he spoke. "I bet his actions were reasonable."

James looked baffled for a moment and opened and closed his mouth a few times before he was able to find an appropriate response. "I-I will, but… what are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be coordinating military… stuff?"

"Very professional use of terms, dad," Aiden said, earning him a punch in the chest that was so fast he couldn't even duck out of the way. "I guess I deserved that…"

James glared a bit at his son. "Ya think?"

"Well… I'm here because we just have an emergency up in the control room and I need your assistance." Steve told James, while looked at Aiden noticing the similarities between the boy and himself more and more each day.

"And you decide to tell me now?" James asked while he began to leave the hall with his father. "Aiden, I leave you in charge of the training session."

Aiden sighed and gave his retreating father and grandpa a two-finger-salute. "Aye, Sir." Man, he prayed his mother would be back soon because he couldn't stand his father's mood swings anymore. He needed his anchor, his wife. Puffing out a breath he straightened his posture and looked over at the youngsters at the door. "Okay, punks! Come here!" At his command, the young recruits came running up to him, standing around him in a half-circle, hands behind their backs and looking straight at him.

"The Captain left me in charge for this session of your training and expect you to improve your teamwork now that you've got another teammate." The blond told his team before he briefly looked at his sister and smirked lightly at her crooked eyebrow. "And believe me when I tell you that you should keep an eye on her, she's got quite a few tricks up her sleeves. Anyways, if there are no reasonable questions let's get moving!" And with that he began their training session.

* * *

"So, what's the emergency?" James asked his father as they made their way up to the control room.

Steve sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before he answered his son. "We detected strange anomalies all over the world where some kind of dark aura tears on the life around it. Plants die, people get sick and we have no idea what this is all about."

"Have you considered asking Thor about it?" Was James' immediate reply. "I mean, back when the Tesseract was on earth strange things did happen too. Maybe something escaped from another world and is now feeding on ours."

"I contacted Thor and he said it was impossible to escape from any of the isolated realms. That was everything he said to me. I guess the situation in Asgard isn't getting better." Steve told his son when he pushed the door to the control room open. "We have very few of these anomalies on tape, but…"

"We can't discern what it is exactly." James finished for him as he walked up to the screens on which the tapes were on. He frowned looking at them. There wasn't much to see except quick flashes of something pitch black and every plant and animal around it dying. It looked like their life was sucked out of them before their collapsed on the ground and the flash was gone. "What the hell is that?" James mumbled while staring at one of the screens.

After a few moments of analyzing James' eyes widened. "Stop this tape!" He barked at the guy who controlled them. When the tape was paused James walked towards the screen and pointed at a dark-brown haired man that was barely in the picture but he was there. "Can you zoom in on him?" The guy on the console did as he was told and zoomed in while he adapted the acuity. "I know this guy…"

"Oh my…" Steve breathed and stepped up next to his son. "Do you see that?"

James looked at the spot his father was pointing at and gaped. "Holy sh-"

"Language, son!" Steve cut him off before looking at him. "If they were there we have to contact them."

James continued to look at the screen as he spoke. "You haven't heard of him in decades, you don't even know if they are still there."

"He told me that if I needed him, he would be there…" Steve said, looking at the screen again.

James sighed. "I know he's your best friend and that you trust him with your life. But who says he will receive your message or even come here and help?"

"I named you after him, you know…" Steve mumbled, his eyes still fixed on the slightest hint of silver and red.

Rolling his eyes James turned to one of the men sitting at the communication consoles. "Try to contact Sargent James Buchanan Barnes, last location Romania."

* * *

"Duck!" Ash yelled over the room as one of Tylak's lightning shot towards his brother, who quickly ducked out of the way. While sidestepping he pulled an arrow and shot towards Tylak. Thomas deflected the arrow and shrunk to fly towards the twins. Shooting his laser stings Thomas tried to hit and distract them so he could get their flag behind them.

The twins ducked out of the way, which gave Thomas the opportunity to get their flag, causing Tylak to grin. "Yeah! Get it, babe!"

Grinning Thomas began to grow again as he reached for the flag but before he could grab it a sword cut his way off. The young Wasp froze and looked to his left where Lyra stood with her sword's tip under his chin and her free hand raised while water danced around it. Before he could even run off she threw the water at him, let it freeze around his wrists, ankles and over his mouth and then hurried over to get Tylak.

Grinning the twins caught on to what she was doing and followed her suite. While Lyra dealt with Tylak and one of the other recruits they got to even the teams out Ash and Nate rushed towards the flag and pulled it out of its stand to raise it in the air, whereupon a loud whistle was heard.

"That was really good." Aiden said from his position on the top ranks. "You finally learned to work as a team. Well… part of you. But were making process. Next time-"

He was cut off by the gym doors opening loudly to reveal his uncle 'Zar. "I've got some news for you, kids."

Tylak frowned and walked up to his father after he freed Thomas from Lyra's ice cuffs. "What news?"

"You're getting a new team member," Azari told them earning a laugh from his twin nephews.

"Lyra is already here so that' not new," Ash told the older man with confidence, causing the latter to sigh.

"I didn't mean Lyra, Ashton…" He said and looked at Aiden who just then arrived on the ground floor. "The Barnes' are returning. Buchanan's granddaughter will join your team."


	5. An Arrival and a Disappearance

_The Arrival and the Disappearance_

The Gand Central was deserted when the last train of the day arrived. Not a single sound was heard until the train's breaks screeched and it came to a halt. The doors of each wagon slid open and at first, it seemed that no one would exit the train until another sound tore through the thick curtain of silence. It sounded like the wheels of a suitcase were dragged across the floor while graceful steps accompanied them. A moment later two other paces were heard but heavier than the first ones, which were accompanied by some kind of clinking metal.

It wasn't long before three figures stepped into the terminal, two rather tall and one on the smaller side, all of them with different shades of brown hair. In the light of the terminal one could see that it was two males and a female, all with similar features. The oldest's left arm was completely covered but by his movements, one could hear that it consisted out of metal and there was only one person that had a full bionic arm.

"You sure you want to do this, dad?" The younger male asked the older one. "I mean, Steve is a great man and all but it's been a while since you set foot on American soil and everything went well."

The older man chuckled shook his head. "I told him if he needed me I'd be there. Plus I'd like to see little James again."

"As if he'd be that little anymore, grandpa." The female rolled her eyes when she turned to look at her grandfather. "How long haven't you seen Uncle Steve and Aunt Tasha? Fifteen, twenty years?"

The older man chuckled. "Twenty-two years. And don't you roll your eyes at me, Stephanie."

The younger man sighed and shook his head. "Where are we headed exactly?"

"Can't you just shut up for once, Dean? You're just as talkative as your mother with that damned sonic voice of hers." His father grumbled before he looked at him again. "We're headed to the Mansion if you must know. Cap and the others are waiting for us there." With that, he walked a few paces faster and hailed them a cab outside the terminal. He waited for his son and granddaughter before he got into the cap. The other two followed suite and as soon as he told the driver the address they took off.

They've been driving for quite a while until the taxi stopped in front of a huge mansion in the Fifth Avenue, causing Stephanie's eyes to widen in excitement. "The Mansion, are you kidding me?!" Nearly jumping out of her seat the light brunette pushed the door open and hurried out of the cap standing in front of the gates, bouncing on her feet.

"What's got her so excited?" The driver asked, whereupon Dean shook his head.

"She's always been one to get excited over the seemingly simplest thing." He said while handing the driver his pay. "Keep the change. Come on, dad."

Bucky sighed and grumbled when he got out of the cap and saw his son and granddaughter already stepping onto the property. "I'm getting too old to keep up with you two." Shouldering his bag Bucky went after his offspring.

Together they went down the long path that led to the front door. There was light in several rooms in the mansion and five cars were parked in the lot. _So there's a welcome committee then…_ Sighing once again he caught up with his son and granddaughter who were already standing at the door. "What's taking you so long, grandpa?"

"Well, let me think… How about the fact that I'm technically over 100 years old?" He asked smirking at the beautiful girl, which simply snorted.

"Come on, you were on ice for like 70 years, you're super fit and you have a bionic arm. Weren't you the one who taught me to 'stop whining all the time and suck it up'?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Stephanie!" Her father scolded causing Bucky to roll his eyes.

"Save it, Dean. I would scold her myself if she weren't right." He said and stepped next to his son and granddaughter. "Would you like to knock?" Steph nodded and knocked on the door only to see it fly open a few seconds later, revealing a tall and raven-haired guy with bright yellow eyes.

Said eyes widened considerably when he recognizes the people in front of him. "Oh, my… I… we weren't expecting you this early, um… please, come in."

Steph smiled at him and thanked him before she stepped inside, followed by her relatives. As they walked into the hall curiosity got the best of her and she began to look around, not even noticing the guy that opened the door calling for someone. It was when she spotted a specific portrait in the hall that she hurried in its direction, only to collide with something hard coming from upstairs. The strength of the impact knocked her easily off her feet but before she could hit the ground or catch her balance herself a pair of strong arms caught her around her waist and hauled her against a hard chest.

A little dizzy from the impact Steph shook her head and slowly looked up, only to meet two stunning green eyes. Blond hair fell into the individual's face and Stephanie was at a loss for words for a moment until his velvety voice reached her ears. "Sorry, I wasn't careful. Are you okay?"

Nodding she pushed against his chest so the handsome blond had to let her go. Hiding her blush she carefully took a few paces back and looked at the young man in front of her. He was handsome for sure, lean but at the same time kind of built, his hair on the verge of messy but not too messy, he kind of reminded her of a picture her grandpa kept of him and…

"Steve…" She heard her grandfather mumble and turned around to see what or rather who he was looking at and, for a short moment, she was speechless. There in the archway to, what seemed like a living room, stood Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America. He still looked like the man in the picture her grandfather always kept close to him, only older.

Captain Rogers and her grandfather stood still like statues for good two minutes and stared at each other before the latter began to smirk and the blond to laugh. They quickly approached each other and hugged like the old friends that they were. Finally reunited after decades of separation. Just as they parted a group of different people came into the hall and stared at them. In that group, she spotted two read-heads, a blonde and several brunettes.

"It's so good to see you again, Buck." Captain Rogers said, smiling at his old friend.

"Good to see you too, man. How's the family?" Bucky asked and tried to spot Natasha in the group behind his friend.

Steve chuckled and turned to look at the group of people behind them. "Well, with a bunch like them it's bound to get out of hand quite often, but all in all we are alright, considering the circumstances."

"Right." Bucky sighed and mentioned for Dean to come closer. "And we'll help you as best as we can, I promise."

Steve smiled and inclined his head, mentioning for James to step closer. "And we appreciate that, my friend. But for now, I believe introductions are in order. Buck, this is my son, James." He lay a hand on said shoulders while grinning at his old friend.

Bucky just grinned widely at the redhead and took his hand as he offered it in a firm handshake. "It's an honor to consciously meeting you, Sir."

"Oh please, don't call me Sir. Your father was always the one to fancy those titles. I, honestly, don't give I shit. I'm James, but please call me Bucky." He laughed when James threw his father a look and began to laugh.

"Okay," James said, still chuckling while waving his children closer to him. "This are my children." He said when the two blondes came to stand next to him. "My daughter, Lyra and my younger son, Aiden."

"It's a pleasure." Said the latter, while Lyra only shyly waved.

Bucky chuckled as he returned the pleasantries. "Tell me, Steve. What happened to Tasha's fiery red hair there?"

"Asgard happened to it." Was all he needed to say to cause Bucky to take a backtrack.

He blinked a couple of times before his brain seemed to have registered what his old friend had just told him. "I beg your pardon."

Steve laughed wholeheartedly and clapped him on the shoulder. "My reaction exactly. Kind of logical when your son tells you he's dating the daughter of Thor, but she truly is a lovely woman."

"I really do hope, that you get to meet her, but she and our oldest are currently in Asgard and try to find a solution for this mess that is seemingly affecting our world too," James said, trying to hide the worry on his face.

"Okay, enough of that for now," Steve said, looking past Bucky to take in the man next to him and a beautiful brunette girl in the background. "Want to introduce your lot?"

At this, Bucky smiled warmly and turned to look at them. "This dashing fella is my son, Dean." He introduced the rather tall, muscular brunette with green-brown eyes, who in turn greeted everyone. "And this, is my gorgeous granddaughter, Stephanie." The Winter Soldier introduced and motioned for the girl to step forward, her slate green eyes roaming across the room and people before they stopped on a certain blond.

"Nice to meet you." She said politely, smiling at Aiden before looking at James and Steve again. The group of people returned her greetings and began to scramble off into other rooms of the mansion while the Rogers and Barnes's stayed behind.

"How about we'll show you where you'll be staying so you can turn in for the night," Steve suggested, receiving nods from their guests. "Okay. Aiden, how about you show Stephanie where her room is and James, You'll show Dean. Lyra will bring you additional blankets and pillows if you need any." He said and walked over to the stairs. "C'mon, Buck. I need to show you something before I show you your room."

"Please, not your collection of old baseball cards again," Bucky whined, causing Steve to roll his eyes and their sons to chuckle.

He turned to ace his old friend before he replied. "No, this is work related." These words caused Bucky's face to fall into a stern expression. He nodded and followed Steve upstairs leaving their children and grandchildren behind.

James sighed and shook his head before he faced their guests. "Let's get you all settled, shall we?"

* * *

The next day the two families drove to the Avengers HQ to take a look at the tapes and speak to the rest of the Avengers, old and new alike. After exchanging greetings and chatting a bit where Natasha and Cliff were concerned all the attending sat down around a big table up on a platform on one end of the room facing the wall with the monitors. It was eerily silent before Steve, as the head of this institution, made a move to stand up and look at everyone before raising his voice.

"Thank you all for coming." He began smoothly. "As you might've noticed we were able to contact and transfer Sargent Barnes, formally known as the Winter Soldier, in this urgent matter. When my son and I were watching the tapes that recorded the anomalies we were able to spot something very interesting." Steve took the remote to turn the monitors on and fast-forward to the scene he was referring to. "As you can see this is a part of a bionic arm, which we are most certain belongs to Sargent Barnes. Henceforth it is clear that he, and therefore his offspring, must've seen this thing in person." He turned to Bucky and mentioned for him to stand. "When we needed him most he was there and I believe he has proven himself more than worthy of our trust. Even the state decided to let go of his charges so he could help us defeat whatever evil is out there." Bucky nodded, appreciating his friend's words before turning to look at the screens again. "I will give him the word so he can fill us in on what enemy we'll have to face. Sargent."

"Thank you, Captain." Bucky nodded and walked up to the screens, pointing at something black opposite of his position. "This is what we humans would describe as a shadow. It doesn't have a shape, or if it does it didn't reveal itself to us. But one thing is for sure, it sucks the life out of everything it touches, it moves quick and seemed to be collecting its' strength for something. We couldn't figure out what it is preparing for if we have to be ready for an attack like we've never encountered before. Bullets go right through it, it can't be touched and it's so fast that your eyes won't be able to follow its moves." Bucky took this moment to look around the room. All of the attendings wore stern expressions, some more worried or shocked than others but he could see fear of the unknown in all their eyes. "The researches my granddaughter provided for us show that there is no known creature or former enemy out there that has up to this point shown powers like this. Therefore it only leaves one option."

"It developed these powers somewhere and they might show the characteristics of that place…" Aiden mumbled, more to himself but still loud enough to be heard around the table.

Bucky grinned. _An intelligent one in the family, huh…_ "Exactly. And there is only one place in the entire universe where conditions like this occur."

Aiden looked up, eyes wide. "The Shadow Real. But that is impossible. No one ever escaped from there moreover managed to plague a world this far from its location."

"I know, boy. But this is the only solution." The Winter Soldier faced the Captain again. "Have you consider consulting Thor on this matter?"

Steve sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "As a matter of fact I did, but all he told me was that it was impossible."

"The situation in Asgard is getting out of hand. Thor has already called my wife for support and only a few days ago my oldest son too. Asgard is at the brink of war against an enemy they can't even identify." James said, frustrated with the whole situation.

"Have we ever considered to try and capture this thing? Install a trap or something similar?" Cliff asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Tony snorted. "Didn't you listen, Barton? We can't touch it and bullets go right through this thing, so arrows will too, as well as a net. I'm not even sure we could capture it with sound waves or an electromagnetic shield. What do you say, Boy Genius?"

Pym just rolled his eyes while he considered the options at hand. "We would have to analyze its atomic condition to find something we could use against it, maybe develop weapons."

"But how will we approach this thing or even analyze it without getting our life sucked out of us?" Azari asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Bucky and his family were near it and they are still alive, so I don't see a problem," Tasha said with a motion towards said people.

Dean shook his head and looked at the redhead. "It's not that simple. You need a lot of energy to withstand the pull that radiates from the being. If we do this, only the strongest and best-trained of us can go."

"Okay, well, then I'll go. My technology might be able to analyze that thing the quickest so we can get out of there, fast." Tony said, receiving a shake of Dean's head as a response.

"What my father forgot to mention is that when in direct contact it can absorb electric energy or the energy your suit is running with." He said, causing the old man to groan.

Steve stood up again and walked around the table while he spoke. "How about we send our children and the most capable of us to train and train them for this mission? Our grand-children can train further to be our reinforcements in case something goes wrong."

These words caused an uproar from said grandchildren about how unfair this would be. Parents and children yelled at each other for good twenty minutes before the doors to the room flew open to reveal on of the employed agents at the HQ.

He was panting and tried to catch his breath before looking up. "It disappeared from our radars. It's gone…"

Steve frowned and was about to ask what he meant when James beat him to it. "Gone? What do you mean with 'gone'?"

"We can't find a trace of the anomaly anywhere on earth. It left. And we don't know where it went." The agent told him, whereupon James faced his father und Bucky again.

He opened his arms a bit. "Now what?"

Bucky sighed and looked at the screens again. "We'll proceed as planned. We'll train for the emergency. Stephanie believes that it regenerates itself here on earth so we might be able to attack it when it's weakest." All of the Avengers nodded and after Steve declared the meeting to be over all of them left the room to mind their own business.


	6. My Christmas Gift to You

**AN/: Hi guys! Merry Christmas, happy Hanukka or whatever you are celebrating this time of the year.  
**

 **It's been a tough time for me and I can't thank you all enough for the love you've given me and this fanfiction! Thank you to all that review and even followed or favorited this story. Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me!**

 **I wanted to say a few things first so, I'm sorry it took me so long to get an update done and I must admit I'm not so pleased with how the chapter turned out, but I hope you still liked it. :)**

 **Now to this little gift. I love Christmas and the spirit of this time of the year and decided that I wanted to give you guys something special, as I believe it is Boxing Day for most of you when you'll read this. I'm currently writing this in the middle of the night and even though I have to go to work in no less than eight hours I wanted to finish this little present for y'all. I really hope you liked it.**

 **Concerning this special, it's not completely set in a specific time, except that it's between the last chapter and the end of this story. So not very specific ^^' I also wanted to mention that I kind of based Stephanie's character on the character of my best in the world friend, who I love dearly and who is a HUGE fan of Bucky so I thought that was fitting. The name for her present (which you will read in this special) were her idea, but I forgot to ask why exactly so the reasoning is a bit vague, but use your imagination, I'm kind of interested in your theories on that one ;)**

 **Okay, enough said for noe. I hope you like this chapter as well as the one before and I wish you all happy holidays and I'll see you in the next chapter.  
**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

 _Special: Have yourself a merry little Christmas_

Today was the day. She was sure of that as soon as she gained enough consciousness to grasp who and where she was. Immediately she ripped her eyes open and sat upright in her bed – well not exactly _her_ bed but the bed in the room she lived in when they were at the Manor. An excited grin split her face before she threw her covers to the side and jumped out of the bed.

Not caring to dress further the young blonde rushed out of her door and burst into the nearest door. "It's Christmas!" She yelled and ran over to the bed in which a redhead hat tried to find peace in blissful slumber. His wish had yet to be granted but instead his covers were flung off him, causing him to groan. "Kane didn't you hear me?! It's Christmas!"

"Go back to bed, Lyra." He grumbled, throwing his pillow at the young banshee in his room. "It's not like anyone is up and about at this time of day."

Lyra rolled her eyes at her oldest brother and sat down on his bed. "Oh please, you know as well as I do that mom would always be up first no matter what time. As would grandma."

Kane groaned into his pillow before shifting so he could look at his sister. "I hate you."

The blonde grinned, leaned over the young man's large frame and pecked his cheek. "I love you too. I'm going to wake the others now."

"Do as you please…" He mumbled while he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It wasn't long before his whirlwind of a sister had left his room and burst into the next, resulting in a shouting match between her and the Barton twins. Kane chuckled to himself. What was it about this day that his little sister loved so much? Ever since she was a little girl she was overly excited for Christmas and when the day came she would jump out of her bed at the most ridiculous hours and wake the whole house so they could celebrate Christmas. And even if he forgot the time and wasn't sure which day it was in the stressful surroundings in Asgard or with the Avengers, as soon as he heard his door burst open in the wee morning and his sister shouting with glee, he knew, it was Christmas Day.

Kane sighed and finally sat up on his bed and shortly after he rose to his full height. He guessed he had no choice than to dress more properly and head down for breakfast before the unboxing started, only this year it would be slightly more crowded and loud with the additional guests.

* * *

Skipping into the second to last door Lyra jumped on the bed and beamed at the other blond that jerked awake at her impact. Giggling she watched as her other brother began to realize what was going on and look his eyes on hers. He stared at her, blinking once. Twice. Then he groaned and let his head fall into his hands.

"Is it that time again?" He asked and peeked at her through his fingers, seeing her nod. "And I just fell asleep…"

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Stop being a baby and get dressed. It's Christmas!"

"I know that it's Christmas, Flipper." He couldn't help but smile at his sister. Every year she would give them the most thoughtful yet at times most ridiculous presents just to see them smile. It made her so happy to give and it made him happy to see her so excited over something so seemingly simple. "Go on and wake the rest of the bunch, I'll be down in a few."

Lyra beamed and kissed his cheek quickly before hurrying out of his room. Once she was gone Aiden sighed and fell back onto his bed. How could his parents have created someone like his sister? He had asked himself that many time before and always came to the same conclusion. She was a blessing, a true blessing for his crazy family. She was the calm in their storm, their light in the dark and even their alarm for the holidays. Aiden couldn't recall a single Christmas that she wasn't excited about. No matter if she was sick or not even at home, just like today.

Chuckling while shaking his head Aiden reluctantly got up and dressed to be more presentable before heading down into the large living room area.

* * *

Sprinting down the hallway Lyra stopped in front of the last mahogany door in the hall. Taking a deep breath the blonde raised her hand and knocked three times before she opened the door. "Morning."

The brunette on the bed rubbed her eyes and smiled sleepily at the girl standing in the doorway. "Merry Christmas."

Lyra beamed at her and hurried over to the bed before carefully sitting down on the bed. "You like Christmas, Stephanie?" Lyra asked with childish excitement.

"Why wouldn't I? It's my favorite time of the year, to see the people around you so happy and carefree, it's truly magical." Stephanie's eyes sparkled while she talked and her lips stretched into a wide smile. Her grandfather and father always tried to give her everything that they could afford even though she didn't wish for anything. The absence of another female member of the family wasn't particularly hard on her but her dad and grandpa seemed a little overwhelmed with how to raise a girl. Strangers might say that she was a little tough for a girl and didn't quite behave like a lady but she thought her father did a great job. She had to be tough to keep up with them and kick all the bad guys' asses and who cared if she wasn't ladylike? Most girls weren't raised to be ladies. "Oh, and please call me Steph."

"Okay." Lyra smiled and nodded once. She opened her mouth again to say something as a tall blond hurried past the door only to come back a few seconds later.

"There you are!" Sighing Aiden leaned against the door frame and looked at his little sister. "And here I thought you would be the first to be downstairs. What are you still doing here?"

Lyra smiled at her brother before she looked back at Stephanie. "I'll be down in a sec, I just wanted to wake Steph up."

As soon as she said that her brother's green eyes switched to the brunette and his cheeks tinged a tiny bit pink while Stephanie's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. "I… okay, well, I'll see you in a bit." And with that, he was gone.

Smiling slyly when she noticed the blush on Stephanie's cheeks Lyra drew her legs to her chest and put her chin on her knees. "You like him."

Upon that Steph's eyes flew to meet hers, being wide as saucers. "What? No!"

Lyra giggled. "Right, and I'm one of Santa's elves."

"You certainly have the height to be one, now that you mention it." Steph countered, crossing her arms over her chest. At first, Lyra only stared at her, baffled by what the brunette had said but after a few moments, the half-Asgardian burst into laughter. Stephanie could only do as much as watch her trying to calm down. It took the blonde a few minutes to finally stop laughing.

Still grinning widely Lyra shook her head and tugged a few strands of her short hair behind her ears. "I really like you. And you would be a great catch for my brother. You could keep up with him and reign him in when he's his over-analyzing, an insufferable know-it-all or just oblivious to the most obvious things."

Stephanie snorted and waved her off as she stood up and went into her closet to change. "Don't exaggerate, okay? We've only known each other for short amount of time and it's not like he has feelings for me."

"You didn't deny having feelings for him yourself." Lyra pointed out, receiving only silence as a response. "Steph? Are you still alive in there?"

The brunette came out of her closet, a slight blush gracing her cheeks. "I already told you that I don't like him like that. Now, do you want to unpack your presents or what?" Lyra grinned again and jumped from the bed.

Quickly she grabbed Stephanie's hand and dragged her with her out of the room. "I'm so excited! I just love Christmas!" Shaking her head while still smiling Steph let the younger girl grad her down to the living room where all the Avengers – old and new – were already gathered around a huge Christmas tree, laughing and beginning to exchange presents. The two girls hurried over to their families and sat down on the carpet where all the 'children' sat.

As presents were exchanged the spirits rose. Kane got a new set of weapons to train with and a lot of Asgardian things, as well as few nerdy gifts from his friends, for example, a scarf of his Harry Potter house – very old school, but he loved it. Aiden got a lot of books and a scarf as well, also an update for his own Captain America shield. Lyra also got books, equipment for her Asgardian sword and a few nerdy gifts as well.

After they exchanged presents with their friends and nearly everyone was done with unpacking Bucky got up and put one last package in front of Stephanie. It was rather large and had a strange weight, causing the girl to frown. She had already gotten more than she'd asked for what could they give her now? Slowly she unwrapped her present only to freeze when the package meowed. Looking up at her grandfather with wide eyes she gulped before she spoke. "Please tell me you aren't serious." But her grandfather said nothing, he only smirked at her mischievously. Returning her gaze to the package in front of her Stephanie slowly opened the perforated lid and gasped.

Upon seeing what was in the carton her eyes watered immediately and quickly fell on her grandpa. Bucky just smiled and nodded at the package. "Go on, she doesn't bite. At least not yet." And Steph didn't need to be told twice. Carefully grabbing what was inside she lifted a small kitten out of the carton and held it to her chest. Looking down on the small Calico Cat Stephanie noticed the fur's pattern. Her ears, eyes, and cheeks were splattered in various brown and black tones, as well as the backside of her head while the bridge of her nose was completely white. Her tummy was also white while her back was covered by the typical patterns of this breed, except for two striped that went from her shoulders to her tail that almost looked like wings. And lastly, all of her little paws were covered in the typical pattern, only in different color combinations. She was awfully cute and was already licking her neck a bit, causing her to giggle. This was the best Christmas ever.

"Have you any idea what you want to call her?" Natasha asked kindly, while gently stroking the kitten.

Steph nodded and smiled at the little thing in her arms. "Nike."

"Like the brand?" Ash asked, earning him a slap on the back of his head from Lyra.

Aiden rolled his eyes at him and looked back at Stephanie whose eyes gleamed with pure joy while she watched her kitten walk around her. "No, you idiot. Like the Greek goddess of victory. I'm guessing because of the pattern of her back."

"Yes." Steph nodded and smiled at her little cat. "It's also an homage." Before anyone could ask another question they were all called to breakfast and quite enjoyed a festive meal in the early morning. When they were finished the children began to clean the table and carried the dishes into the kitchen, maybe even using their powers to help – they wouldn't tell their parents, though. Once every plate and silvery was in the enormous kitchen Aiden and Stephanie began to clean them while the other cleaned the dining and living room. They chatted mildly about this and that, laughing, gossiping and even plotting pranks to pull on New Years. When they finished making the dishes they put them away in the cupboards they belonged into and made their way back into the living room. It was eerily quiet so they peeked into the room only to see that no one was there.

"Where are they?" Stephanie asked besides the tall blonde while she looked around.

Aiden frowned as he did the same. "I don't like this. I think we shou-"

"Aiden?" Stephanie asked, frowning at his silence. "What's wrong?" Instead of answering her question he simply took her chin between his thumb and pointer finger and tilted her head upwards, whereupon her eyes caught sight of the one thing she hoped wouldn't be a tradition amongst the Avengers. Above her and the blond half-Asgardian hung, in all its glory, a goddamn mistletoe. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me…"

"I… We…" Aiden started before he cleared his throat to start again. "No one is here, so no pressure…"

Stephanie gulped and turned to face the tall blond, crooking her head slightly to the side. "Yeah, I mean… damn, this is awkward."

Aiden chuckled and nodded before turning to face her as well. "Yeah, but it doesn't have to be. I mean, we're friends and this is just a tradition. It doesn't have to mean anything."

"Yeah…" Steph mumbled and braced herself for what was going to come. "So…" The nerves got to her and she had to avert her gaze from his piercing green ones only to feel his finger gently cup her chin and lift her gaze again.

He smiled dazzling at her and leaned in slightly. "Merry Christmas, Steph." He whispered against her lips.

"Merry Christmas, Aiden." She was able to whisper back to him before his soft lips gently brushed against hers, sending sparks down her spine and causing her to sigh and close her eyes. They certainly didn't intend to kiss for longer than three seconds but damn did this feel good and when Steph actually took a step closer and kissed him back… gods, this was the best Christmas ever. And not only for them but also for the blonde girl spying on her brother and new found friend kissing in the doorway to the kitchen. Lyra knew they were perfect for each other! And Operation Mistletoe was only step one of her agenda to fulfill herself one of her most important wishes. The wish for her brother to finally see that he's worth being loved and for him to find a rock, a light in the darkness of his thoughts, apart from his family. And to see him so lost in a simple kiss with a truly remarkable girl and to see them smile and laugh at each other after they've parted, that's what made this Christmas the best Christmas ever.


	7. Not quite as planned

**AN/: Hi guys!**

 **I can't even tell how incredibly sorry I am, I'm a horrible author to keep you hanging like that. I'M SO SORRY! It's just been so stressful lately. I had my finals and failed one of my classes and I'm trying to reach out to my professor to ask if I have to rewrite the paper or repeat the course and no one is answering and ARGH!  
I'm just so incredibly sorry and at the same time so touched that you worry about me. You don't know how much this means to me! I love you!**

 **Okay, but let me explain myself a little more on why I didn't update earlier than this other than my finals and two term papers I have to write. It's just that I suffered from such a massive case of writer's block and I really wanted to give you guys a long chapter as an apology but I just couldn't. So I modified what I had and update my story now (in the middle of the night because I just love you guys, and I wanted to give you something ^^') hope you still like it. I've got an idea where the next chapters are headed but feel free to send ideas my way maybe they'll end up in the story ;)**

 **On a happier note, guess what James tells Bucky a little about this chapter… You guys have been asking for this since the end of my last story so I hope it satisfies you a little to get in insight into T &J's big day… ;D**

 **Also, my best friend and I are considering – well… we kinda started – to write a Harry Potter fanfiction and I just wanted to ask you if you'd be interested to read something like that? It's about the next generation and focusses mainly on two OCs so… yeah. Let me know if you'd like to read something like this.**

 **Again, I'm sorry it took so long, but thank you all for reviewing and being so loyal to me. I love you so much!**

 **Okay, enough said. I hope you like this chapter and I'll see you in the next chapter.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

 _Not quite as planned_

Kane hurried down the corridor and straightened his collar and cloak while doing so. He was late. Again. He was researching anything he could on the anomalies that occurred in Asgard and on Earth. He had been in the archives and the library all day and night for the last… actually, he didn't know for how long he had been there. All that mattered to him was that he barely got any information. All he got from the description of the anomaly – that it looked like a black floating liquid or a shadow - was that all tried criminals that committed crimes beyond redemption are send to the Realm of Shadows to be slowly robbed of their memories, identities and dissolve into shadow. There was no escape. The water of one of the outside realms is said to have no gravity and has a certain degree of intelligence but not enough to do what the anomalies are doing.

Groaning he combed his hand through his wild hair when he stopped in front of a set of large doors that lead to the small council. Everyone who had even the smallest say in what was going on in Asgard would be there. Meaning his mother - the unofficial queen -, his grandfather, grandmother, great-uncle, the head of the guards and the High Masters. And every single one of them was looking at him when he stepped through the doors.

"Excuse my delay." He said when he walked over to his seat on his mother's right. "What did I miss?"

Three of the attending were smiling at him, being his mom, grandfather, and great-uncle. The rest was simply looking at him with disappointment, either on their faces or in their eyes. His mother gestured to the people sitting around the table while speaking. "We just discussed if the military should be further involved and if we should lead a campaign against the threat."

"Which would be the logical way to proceed and deal with the random attacks that kill our land, animals, and people!" Argued the head of the guards.

His great-uncle snorted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Oh please, quit that bullshit. We all know that our forces would be useless against something like that!"

"With all due respect but what would an ex-criminal know about the military?" The commander said, glaring at Loki.

"What I know? Are you seriously asking me what I know about the military?!" Loki asked outraged, slowly stood up and put his fists on the table, glaring at the commander. "I bend an entire species to my will and used their forces for my cause which would have worked if my brother and his friend hadn't intervened! You have no idea what I'm capable of and what I know, so shut up and listen to me for once before you kill another legion!"

The commander and everyone in the room just stared at Loki in shock and for a few long seconds, no sound was heard. That was until Thor burst out laughing and clapped his hand on the table repeatedly. "Gods, I was waiting for you to lose it."

"Father, this is not helpful. Uncle, thank you for your input. And commander, you will not lead another of our legions to their certain deaths." Thorunn said in her 'queen-voice' before she turned to look at her son. "Kane, darling, did you find anything on the anomalies?"

The redhead sighed and shook his head. "Nothing that is logical or possible. Nothing can escape from either of the realms and I have peace treaties with every populated realm. There is nothing we know of that could do such things."

"That's why we need to send military forces to intervene as early as possible to-" The Commander tried again, only to be cut off again.

"Commander!" Thorunn cut in with power in her voice. "We talked about this, no military intervention!"

The Commander lowered his head in defeat. "As you wish, your Majesty."

"Well, if no one has any other ideas then-" The Queen began only to be interrupted by a guard bursting through the door.

"Yo-Your Majesty! W-We…" He panted while he clung to the door, sweat beads on his forehead and fear in his eyes. Kane shot out of his seat and hurried to the guard when he saw that his side was bleeding. "Vanaheim is under attack. Th-The Shadow, i-it has shown itself and is destroying villages, killing our guards there."

Kane's eyes widened while he supported the guard. "Mother…"

Thorunn's face morphed into something dangerous, an expression that her son had never seen before and he openly admitted that it scared him. "Don your armors and arm yourselves. We won't risk our soldiers' lives for a matter that we can settle now, once and for all." Kane saw his grandfather, great-uncle nod along with the commander before his mother pulled her sword from behind her chair. "Call for the Elite, and tell them that we are at war."

* * *

Steve and Bucky were standing on one of the upper balconies above the training hall of the headquarters when the latter tried to move his left arm just to have it cease its movements before he grabbed his arm with his right hand. "Damn…" Bucky mumbled when his arm wouldn't budge. "Stuck again."

Steve frowned at him, looking confused. "What?"

His old friend sighed and tried to move his bionic arm. "My arm needs a monthly maintenance and when I forget to get it checked by Dean it gets stuck."

Steve chuckled and shook his head at his friend. "You were never the best at remembering things. Like my son's wedding day…"

"Oh, come on, are you going to hold that against me for the rest of our lives?" Bucky complained while rolling his eyes at Steve.

The latter shook his head and looked down onto the training session again. "We could get Pym to look at your arm. He's a genius if he doesn't get it back to work no one can."

"Then let's, cause this is annoying as fuck…" The Winter Soldier grumbled.

Steve looked affronted. "Language!" He scolded, causing Bucky to look at him as if he grew horns before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"Oh man." Bucky breathed in between his laughter. "And here I thought you have gotten over this shit, man. How are you even handling not being Captain America anymore and not being able to scold people?"

Steve grumbled and strutted past the brunette towards the technic labs. "James and Aiden are doing just fine filling my footsteps." Sighing he relaxed his posture and pace before facing his friend again. "How's it been going for you? Raising your son without his mother and then Stephanie…"

Bucky chuckled. "Well, I'd be lying if I said that it was easy, he's got Dinah's temper and her shrill voice if he wants to. When he was a child that was horrible but I got a hang of it. And then when I thought I wouldn't have to take care of a child again he told me he was going to be a father, man I tell you that was something."

"I feel you. But who would've thought that you would have an affair with Dinah Barton, the Black Canary." Steve said with a grin on his face. "How come you didn't marry her?"

Snorting at that comment Bucky shook his head and looked at the Captain again. "How come? You and I both know that I'm far from marriage material and she was too. It was nice and damn she was good with that tongue of hers but it wasn't enough for marriage. And when she got pregnant… well, call it a conscious decision of ours that I would raise our son alone and she would do her thing. She planned on being a part of his life but… you know what happened. And after she died it was just him and me."

"You did great considering the circumstances." Steve clapped his old friend on the back before he pushed the door to the lab open.

Bucky smiled slightly. "Yeah… I was a pretty lousy father sometimes, taking him on my missions and fighting with him strapped to my chest." He laughed at Steve's widened eyes. "But he survived and managed to start a family of his own. For a moment I thought he would lose hope when Stephanie's mother died in childbirth but the little thing healed his heart. He's a bit strict with her in order to keep her safe but that girl does what she wants to do."

"Children… Kane did also tend to do what he wanted before he was introduced to the obligations of Asgard's Crown Prince. And James was a terror when he was a child. I think the name is the cause for that." Steve quipped, smirking.

But before Bucky could retort to that another voice cut through the silence. "Good to know I was a terror as a child, father."

The two adults turned quickly to see James standing next to a desk with highly technological instruments on it with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Pym sat behind him at the desk and seemed to be working on James's shield. "Hello, son. Shouldn't you be down there training with your team?" Steve asked, skeptical.

James chuckled. "Still my drill sergeant I see. To your information, Captain, I was training until my shield bugged. So I came here to get it fixed. Why are you here, anyways?"

"My arm got stuck and I need to get that fixed," Bucky replied, whereupon Pym's head perked up.

"Gimme a minute." He quipped and finished the work on the shield. He put it down and walked over to the Winter Soldier. "May I?" The latter nodded whereupon the mechanic got to work.

Sighing Bucky turned to the redhead who just tried his shield on. "So, what did I miss on your wedding? Sorry by the way that we couldn't make it."

James laughed and shook his head. "No offense but I think if you two would've been there the situation would've escalated more quickly than it had…"

Bucky frowned. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that an old friend of the bride tried to kidnap her and kill me so he could marry her in my place." James said casually while activating his shield.

"The fucker did what?!" Bucky's eyes widened and his hand balled into a fist. "Oh, I would've-"

"Yeah, I know. Believe me, no one was happy about that. Thor lost his shit when that guy grabbed her on her way to the altar. The guy got my arm before we managed to beat him up." James shook his head and pulled his shirt up a little more to reveal a nasty scar on his upper left arm. "Thorunn was so shaken that her hands still shook when we went to bed that night. She didn't sleep properly for a month. I'll never forget the helplessness and fear I her eyes when he got her and hurried away. I still can't believe that the High Masters only banned him from the capital and that my mother-in-law dared to invite him to our wedding…"

"Never liked that woman, I might mention," Bucky grumbled and ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry to hear that. I hope that shithead is locked up or dead."

James shrugged and looked at his namesake. "Might as well be both. They send him to the Realm of Shadows."

Bucky just nodded at that and began to move his bionic arm again. "Finished, Doc?"

"Almost done," Pym replied.

"Good. Then let's head back to the training hall. I'm not sure Aiden's got everything under control…"

* * *

"Oof…" air was knocked out of Aiden's lungs as Steph delivered a strong kick to his chest. To prevent hitting the mat he made a back flip. When he landed on his feet he immediately crouched down and kicked Steph's legs out from under her and pinned her down on the ground. "Not bad…"

Steph smirked and swung her leg up to kick his back and the back of his head to roll on top of him. When she was on top Steph quickly pinned him down with a knee on his chest and grinned at him. "Thank you. I pride myself in never being beaten before."

"Is that so?" Aiden asked an eyebrow raised. With a quick movement, he threw her over his shoulder, locked her knee next to her chest on the mat and her hands over her head. "Then that makes two of us… If you count out my brother."

Steph glared at him and was about to reply when a bright light interrupted her, causing her and Aiden – as well as the rest of the Avengers – to look in its direction. When the light disappeared Aiden recognized the red hair that belonged to his brother, who seemed to be wearing an Asgardian armor and… was that blood?!

Aiden's eyes immediately widened and he sprang to his feet. "Kane!" He called as he ran to his brother's side who just then began to sway and collapse in his arms. "What happened? Kane, talk to me, who did this?!" He was furious. Why would Kane be so foolish and fight without him, without his right hand, without his brother?!

Kane swallowed and tried to catch his breath. A few strands of hair were sticking to his sweaty forehead and the paleness of his skin could rival their sister's. _Wait, sister… Lyra!_ Just as he thought that the girl fell on her knees just in front of him and began to examine his wound.

"Kane, you idiot! Why didn't let the healers treat you? This wound doesn't look good at all, you need a doctor!" She told her stoic brother, who just shook his head.

"N-No… we… M-" He tried to say as another member of their family came into the room. "What the- … Kane!" James hurried over to his children and took in the image of his oldest son, bleeding, on the floor of the training ground. "What happened?! Why are you wounded? You need a doctor, fast and-"

"SHUT UP!" Kane roared before panting again and leaning his weight on his brother. "W-We were attacked. The Shadow… the Anomaly…"

"What?" Aiden asked, eyes wide. "That's impossible, it shouldn't have-"

"Bro, please… shut up." At the desperation in his voice, Aiden decided to quit asking questions and focused on stopping the blood flow. "Th-They… It… _He_ …"

James shook his head and tried to get his son to focus again as he was on the edge to pass out. "Kane, hang in there… What happened?"

The younger redhead swallowed and lifted his head to look at his father. "He's got mom."


	8. Waiting

**AN/: *hides behind a rock, only a hand can be seen waving* Hello friends! I can't tell you how long I wanted to update this story but Uni and writer's block do not mix well. Also FanFiction kept crashing and I've been meaning to put this out a week ago, so sorry :( . And again, I'm sorry it's so short, I planned double the length but that would have taken me even longer and I really wanted to give you guys an update, so here it is!**

 **I really hope you'll like it and don't hate me for taking so long.**

 **I love you so much and thank you for your amazing support! I hope I can get the next chapter out sooner and surprise all of you. But we'll see about that.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

 _Waiting_

The moment the words left his mouth Kane's frame sagged against his younger brother, his breath shallow, while the rest of the attending paled visibly. No one said anything for a short moment until Aiden recovered himself and got into leader mode before the room was in an uproar. "He needs medical attention immediately. Lyra, go and prepare everything. Dad, help me carry him!"

His sister nodded and raced out of the room in the blink of an eye but his father didn't move. The blond turned to look at him only to see him staring at his brother, who he still held in his arms. "Dad!" No reaction. "Damn it. Gramps, take care of dad, I'll carry Kane to the infirmary."

"Let me help you." Came a small voice from his right, causing him to look up abruptly. His eyes fell on his new teammate, who just began to crouch down and bind a long cloth tightly around Kane's torso. "That should buy us more time." A moment later she looked up to meet his eyes as he didn't move. Seeing his stunned yet worried expression Steph gently smiled and lay a bloody hand on his. "He'll be fine. And we'll find your mom. But we need to get moving."

Shaking himself out of his stupor he nodded and used his powers to lift his brother to waist height. Nodding at Steph the two of them hurried out of the room and carried Kane down to the infirmary. Lyra was already impatiently pacing in front of the door, chewing her nails.

"Flipper!" Her head shot up so fast that Aiden feared she might suffer a concussion and be knocked out cold, but instead, she pushed the doors to the infirmary open. Her brother and friend quickly ran past her to let her close the doors again and go after them.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to him?!" A bell voice rang out before the person it belonged to came into view. Her long black hair was up in a bun, her clubmaker glasses on top of her head, and her green eyes shone with worry. "Put him over there." She commanded while pointing to a bed on their right and putting her glasses on her nose. Following her orders, Aiden put his brother down on the bed and took a step back to let her do her job. "Aiden, you need to tell me what happened."

It was an easy task, he should've been able to answer the girl's question but he was just too stunned for a moment when she removed the Asgardian robes and armor his brother was wearing with such precision that he never expected from Kiara Munroe. "Aiden!" She urged while cleaning his bloodied torso. The blonde swallowed and focused on the medic instead of his brother's wound. "I don't know what happened, exactly. I just know that he was fighting the anomaly and that it wounded him."

The raven-head nodded before she looked at the nasty looking rips through his side. "God, he's an idiot. This wound is bad, I'll need help for this. Does one of you know something about treating more severe wounds than cuts?"

Aiden was about to reply when Stephanie spoke again. "I know a bit if that's enough?"

"It'll have to." Kiara sighed. "Get over here and hold this back here and…"

Aiden turned the conversation out completely and just kept staring at the scene in front of him. When he got his hands on whoever did this to his brother and took his mother he will fucking kill the guy or gal – no offense. No one will hurt his family ever again! Speaking of family… He turned to face his little sister, whose eyes were still fixed on their brother. Aiden just knew that this was one of her worst nightmares, but he also knew that as much as he'd like to pull her out of the room to spare her that experience she wouldn't let him. The only thing he could do now is to be there for her. So he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her safely against his chest and as soon as she had the support she needed silent tears began to fall.

* * *

James didn't even notice his children running out of the room. He simply stared into space, fixing his gaze on his son's blood on the floor. This couldn't be, this wasn't possible. No one has the power to defeat the Elite, it was simply impossible. And now Thorunn was gone and his oldest severely injured. How could things have escalated so quickly? Gods, he had Thorunn. What if-… oh no, he was beginning to panic. Breathe, James, Breathe…

"Breathe!" He heard his father bark at him, whereupon he took a deep breath and looked up to his father. Steve was kneeling in front of him, a hand on his shoulder and worry in his eyes. "You need to calm down. Think, James! Your son is severely injured and your wife has been kidnapped and what do you do? You're sitting on the floor and lose your shit!" James looked shocked. Did his father just swear?! "Pull it together, boy! Be the father I know you are for your children! They are in pain, scared of losing their brother and you are sitting here, drowning in self-pity. I say get your ass moving to your kids and be there for them!"

 _What? … Yes! Of course!_ James shot to his feet and nodded gratefully at his father. "I will. Thank you, Captain." And with that, he ran out of the room.

It was quiet for a few minutes as everyone looked around nervously. They knew what was about to come. When their enemy managed to defeat the strongest soldiers of Asgard and kidnap their queen things would just escalate from here. They needed to take measures to ensure this wouldn't happen again and they needed to find Thorunn.

"Okay, listen up, folks!" Man, that was a long time ago that he last got into "Captain America-mode", but the situation calls for a leader – even if this one is actually retired, and should have been for over seventy years now if fate hadn't planned it otherwise. But hey, who was Steve to complain. "Now that my son has his family duties to uphold I'll jump in to support him. The orders are as follows: you will have time to change and go back to your posts, all of the Avengers will meet in the control room in thirty minutes to come up with a strategy to track our fellow Avenger down, eliminate our enemy and restore order to this realm and all the other realms he or she attacked. Any questions?" He was met with silence. "Good. Dismissed." And with that the groups of people began to scatter around, doing what they were told.

Steve sighed and massaged his temples before looking up again and seeing Bucky fast approaching. "Feeling good to be Captain again?"

"Funny." Steve drawled. "Even if it were other circumstances there was a reason for my retirement."

Bucky's face pulled into a soft frown. "Sorry I had to leave so quickly… I couldn't even meet the family. But that accident, man…"

Steve just shrugged it off. "Wasn't that bad after all. I just couldn't do the job anymore and James was more than ready to fill my shoes." He sighed. "I would probably be just as lost as he is right now. But as soon as he realizes there is still someone that needs him, he'll be himself again."

"They've been through a lot…" Bucky began only to be interrupted by the sound of the doors to the training ground banging open. A tousled looking redhead came barging into the grounds, her eyes darting around the room before finally fixing on the blond and his brunette friend. She hurried over to them, throwing her arms around the former's shoulders.

"I just got word of what happened." She told him out of breath. "I came as fast as I could. What happened exactly? Where's James? And the kids? How's-"

Steve simply cupped his wife's cheeks and forced her to look him in the eye, causing her to shut up immediately. "Tash, you know I love you, but right now the last thing I need is you freaking out."

Natasha said nothing and just looked him in the eyes before sighing and sinking against his from. "Sorry. I just didn't think things like this would happen anymore. And I kind of freaked at the mention of Kane and… I don't know… I just feel very out of character right now."

Steve chuckled, shook his head and kissed his wife's forehead lightly. "It's okay. It wouldn't have taken much for James to have a downright panic attack. He's with the kids right now, hopefully. Why don't you come with us to the control room? The Avengers will have a meeting there in…" He looked at his watch. "Twenty minutes."

"I might do that." She said smirking slightly. "But I'll check on our son and grandchildren first. See you there." Standing on her toes Natasha quickly pecked her husband's lips before leaving the room again to see after James and the kids, leaving Steve and Bucky behind.

"Sometimes I really think she's got you whipped, buddy," Bucky said after a moment of silence as Steve stared at the door through which Natasha just disappeared, causing his best friend to laugh.

Shaking his head Steve began to move in the direction of the control room. "You have no idea."

* * *

It didn't even take him five minutes to reach the infirmary. Slightly panting the redhead pushed the door open to reveal the five people in there. Upon entering James didn't mind that his daughter continued to stare at the unconscious form of his oldest son on the bed in front of her. He probably would have done the same thing if it was one of his friends back in the day. But the fact that it was his son now laying in that bed made it so much more difficult to put up a confidant face.

James tried not to think of it any further and surveyed the scene instead. Behind the chair his daughter was sitting in stood his younger son, his hands on her shoulders and eyes fixed on him. He looked tired… James smiled lightly and began to approach the two. As he did so a brunette girl came up behind Aiden and laid her hand gently on his arm, whispering words James couldn't hear, whereupon his son nodded, bend down to kiss his sister's head and made his way over to James.

"Are you okay?" James asked as soon as he thought Aiden would be able to hear him, receiving a nod. But before the blond could speak he was crushed into a hug by his father.

Sighing in relief Aiden returned the hug before answering. "I'm fine. How are you? You seemed to panic when we were leaving." He sounded worried, his voice rough and deep from exhaustion.

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry I let you down back there. I… I didn't it like a true leader and certainly not like a father." Shaking his head James looked up to lock eyes with his son to convey that he was serious about what he said next. "But I will be now. If you need anything I will be there, anytime."

"Thanks, dad." Said his son and smiled at him before casting a backward glance at his sister and friends.

James followed his gaze and then looked back at his son. "I'm afraid we have to leave her alone for a bit. We'll have an emergency meeting about all of this. And as my right hand you should be there."

Aiden frowned. "I… I don't… we can't leave her alone, dad."

"We can look after her." Came a voice from behind them causing father and son to turn around. There in the door way stood Nate and Ash, still wearing their workout clothes. "Out dad is at the meeting so it wouldn't be a problem to stay here, would it?"

That caused James to look at his son and shrug. "Sounds reasonable enough for me. We'll be back as soon as we can, I promise. I don't like leaving her either, so…"

Aiden turned to look at the twins before he gazed the other way to his sister. "Okay… fine."

"Great," Ash said, offering a slight smile. "Then off you go." And with a bit reluctance and a few threats off they went to the meeting.

As soon as they left the infirmary Ash and Nate made their way over to Lyra who was still staring at her unconscious brother. She looked so worried at him with the beads of sweat that were forming on his forehead and his shallow breathing. She desperately wanted to switch places with him, didn't want to see him suffer any longer while he mumbled through his fever dreams.

"Dark… black… all shadow…" Kane breathed as he threw his head from side to side.

"How long is he like this?" Nate asked softly as he put his hands on his best friend's shoulders.

Lyra just shook her head. "He's been mumbling nonsense for a while now. I was trying to make sense of what he says but I can't."

Ash sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed, looking at the blonde. "What has he been saying?"

Mercury eyes met dark blue ones. "A lot about shadows and the dark. But occasionally something like pretty eyes and nice hair… I… I'm not sure what any of this means." She was frustrated that was for sure but also scared and both boys seemed to catch on that.

"It's going to be okay," Nate told her while bending down to hug her. "I promise."

"Yeah," Ash said, reaching for her hand from across the bed. "Kiara will fix him in no time. And that friend of yours, Stephanie I think it is, she did a pretty god job of keeping Aiden calm. So you can focus on yourself for once."

Lyra couldn't help but laugh slightly at that. "Yeah, she sure does keep him in check. Wh-Where is she by the way?"

Ash shrugged. "Dunno. Probably went with Kiara to the meeting before we came here."

"Right… well, I think-" She couldn't finish that sentence because just then Kane began to groan and gasp for air. Lyra immediately jumped out of her seat and right to his side checking if his wound opened again. "His wound look as well as it can be. What is wrong with him?"

"I think he's waking up." Nate state simply.

Lyra looked at him with big eyes. "Already?! But his body isn't in a good enough shape."

"I think he doesn't care," Ash said without emotion and just stare at the bed.

Lyra frowned and shoot him a look. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ash answered with a nod towards her brother, whereupon the blonde turned to look at the wounded redhead only to see that his eyes were slightly open. "Kane!"

"No need to scream." He groaned, his voice rough. _Charming…_

"You're awake, how do you feel?" Nate asked, causing Kane to shake his head.

"We don't have time to chat. We are in trouble." He said, trying to push himself into a sitting position.

Ash frowned while Lyra helped her brother sit. "What do you mean?"

Kane's eyes fixed on the platinum blonde before he answered. "The Shadow Realm rebels against us." He said before looking at his sister with softer eyes. And their king his mom."


	9. Just a bunch more Questions

**AN/: *standing in front of you looking ashamed and handing you the chapter* Hello friends! I can't tell you how sorry I am that it took me so long to update this. I won't get into excuses for my tardiness but I just want to say, that I've run into a wall with this story. It got way too cliché for my liking so I started to revise my notes and make a few changes. I hope you'll like what I did. Anyway, I also wanted to thank you for supporting this story and by extension me. Your comments motivated me to start writing again. I can't promise a regular update schedule as I'm in the middle of writing my Bachelor's thesis but I'll try to update more regularly now and finish this story sooner or later.**

 **I have really cool (or not so cool ^^') things planned for this story and it won't be pretty in the end but I hope you're excited.**

 **I love you so much and thank you again for your amazing support! Now, enough talking and more reading. Please enjoy this chapter and tell me what you think.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Your Annie :***

* * *

Just a bunch more Questions

"Kane, you freaking idiot, get back into bed!"

"I need to tell them what I know, Lyra. Just let me go to them!" Kane was limping down the hall while still wearing an infirmary gown and a bathrobe.

That conversation went on a loop from the moment Kane first woke up to when he was walking out the door. Not much else has happened since he woke up mere minutes ago aside from him trying to get out of the infirmary. After shoving the twins out of the way when they went to push him back down the young Avenger struggled to his feet and began to move toward the exit all the while his sister was trying (read failing) to hold him back. The twins were not such a great help either.

Clutching his side the redhead pushed the doors of the infirmary open and strutted out in search for the rest of the Avengers. _They must be in the control room…_ , he thought and turned left, walking down on long corridor in the opposite direction from the training hall. On the next corner, he quickly contemplated where to go before he turned right to reach the elevators.

Lyra grunted when he pushed past her on the corner, while completely ignoring her, only to stumble into one of the metal cranes that Pym placed around the HQ right after. "I can tell them! Seriously, you need to rest, you were severely wounded and as much as you'd like to think that, you don't heal as fast as mom or grandpa do." Lyra said while she hurried after him. _How can he limp so fast?!_

"You know, you can scold me later, Shorty." He told her as he pushed the button of the elevator that appeared only seconds later. "What is that behind you, by the way?" He asked after he entered the small space and faced his sister.

Lyra just rolled her eyes. "Very funny, but not gonna work. You won't get rid of me that easil-AAAHHH!" Her scream tore through the building as one of Pym's apparatuses pulled her off her feet and let her hang upside down from it, while Kane laughed at her. "Oh, you asshole! You did that when you stumbled into it didn't you?!" Kane just grinned at her even though he looked quite tired doing it. "You're going to pay for this Kane Anthony Rogers, you hear me?!"

"Sure, sure." Was all he said in response while the elevator doors closed in front of him. When the cart started moving upwards, Kane sighed and leaned against the wall to rest a bit. He knew that his sister was right; he knew that he should have listened and let her do the talking, as she was so much better at it than he was, but she had not seen what he saw. She was not there. And thank all the gods for that! No, he had to be the one to tell them and so he took a deep breath before the cart stopped and the doors opened on the top level where the control center was located.

Finding the right floor was easy, finding the right room, however, was not. He was not even there for two minutes and he was already lost. Was the blood loss too much for his head? Maybe, but he had to find them. Opening yet another door revealed an empty conference room that was sparsely decorated and looked rather unused if he was quite honest. Most of the times he was not even sure why they needed so many conference rooms but then again, this was not Asgard where every meeting had to take place in a certain room all the time. He was losing the point, wasn't he?

Shaking his head Kane tried to clear his thoughts and find where everyone had gathered to talk about the issue at hand: the abduction of his mother. Asgard had fallen into complete chaos after she vanished in the shadows and only after his grandfather and himself stepped up to calm their people. He did not even realize his wound before he left for earth; he doubted anyone noticed did in the chaos that was the aftermath of the battle. As much as he tried to, Kane just could not forget what he saw on the battlefield. It was far from the heroic depiction of movies or novels. It was gruesome. The smell was hardest to forget, he'd bet that his armor and robes still smelt like blood, mud and feces from the corpses and wounded soldiers, as well as a burning smell of tar that their enemy left behind.

Kane shook himself from his memories when he opened another door to reveal a room full of consoles, screens, maps and a big round table in the middle of the half-lower level, where his friends and family were seated. "Finally…" He breathed causing the ones with more sensitive hearing, the Munroe family to be exact, to look in his direction.

"What. The. Hell?" The Munroe twins mumbled with wide eyes when they realized who was standing in the door to the control room. However, only one of them reacted fast enough to run to the injured prince and catch him when he swayed.

Groaning on impact Kane looked up into the bright green eyes of Luke. "Oh, hi there."

"'Hi, there'?! That's all you're going to give me?! You are so done, you fucking idiot-" Luke started to scold him, only to have Kane grin up at him. He was so cute when he got angry. "Are you even listening to me?!"

"Sorry, I was preoccupied." He smirked and looked toward the table before the third Black Panther hit him on the head. "Ow, what was that for?!"

Luke just rolled his eyes at him. "For being a douche.", was all he could say before the room went into an uproar and nearly everyone else rushed up to them with James and Aiden in the lead. James and Steve attached themselves around Kane and helped to get him in a chair where Kiara checked on him.

"Kane… what?" Aiden asked, confused as to why his brother was up and moving. The redhead just rolled his eyes and straightened a bit. "As eloquent as ever, dearest brother."

Frowning the blond crossed his arms and snapped his mouth shut, trying and failing to come back with something other than 'asshole'. "Why aren't you in the infirmary? And where's Lyra?" His father asked instead, not quite in the mood for his sons' bickering.

"I kind of hooked her to one of the cranes down in the hall." He told his father, which earned him several disapproving looks. "I know, but I had to tell you what I saw on the battlefield. I saw the anomaly if you even can call it that. It's more like an intellectual creature, it has a- ugh, I don't know how to explain it." Kane put his head in his hands and groaned again before looking up.

James looked pained when his son's eyes focused on him, conveying so much without a single word. He was scared – and rightfully so – and confused. His mother was abducted before his very own eyes, which could traumatize someone. Smiling reassuringly James laid a hand on his eldest son's shoulder and spoke softly. "It's okay, no pressure, just think and tell us what you know. If it turns out to be nothing then that is okay too. You have done your best and you're safe now."

Stunned into silence everyone else was sitting back down in their seat, looking expectantly at the prince. Neither James nor Steve, Natasha or Aiden moved from their spots next to him. All of them were giving him the support he needed to recount the most horrible battle he had witnessed in his life.

"When we arrived the battle was in full swing. Soldiers were screaming, bodies laid on the ground that turned muddy from all the blood. It smelled horrible, something I'd like to forget. After arriving, we almost immediately split up. I went with mom and grandfather led the rest somewhere else. It was our goal to find the anomaly and destroy it, which was easier said than done. You see, the anomaly can create 'soldiers' from its own matter; basically, you fight only one enemy. They didn't look human though, more of an indistinguishable blob of matter that attacked you with weapons formed from its' own body. We encountered multiple of the soldiers fighting and killing our men. They were… their bodies were pitch black, like tar, and moved as if they were liquid but when you touched or tried to kill them they behaved like shadows as if they weren't even there. We only managed to beat a few of them by using light and fire, as a result, they would either vanish or burn."

Kane paused for a second trying to find a way to explain what happened next when he himself did not quite understand what happened. "We fought our way towards the center of the battle. It wasn't easy – far from it actually –, we were injured, didn't know where to go, what to do. Within minutes we were trapped, a wall of misty tar surrounding us. Only a few moments later another blob extruded itself from the wall. He was far larger than any of the soldiers we encountered. He approached us, circled around us and just after that he chuckled." Kane shook his head at the absurdity of it all. "The tar-like mist began to flow from his body and quickly revealed a human, a man."

He swallowed before looking at his father, who had his brows furrowed in confusion. "He looked like Cian…"

A gasp and murmur was heard around the room before shouts like "That's impossible!" and "How?" followed. The room was in an uproar and no one seemed to see the young man struggle, except his family.

Aiden was getting angry at the group for interrupting his brother and screamed around the room "SHUT UP!". The control room fell silent; no one dared to say a word at the angry stare from Aiden, who seconds later turned to his brother. Kane was shaking he had seen unspeakable things and Aiden was sure that he told them was only the PG version of what had truly transpired. "Go on." A told his brother gently, although he knew what happened next.

Kane sighed and looked at his folded hands in his lap. "He looked like Cian… yet didn't. Sure, his features were the same but his skin was grayish, his eyes red and purple as if he was suffocating. There were scars on his face and neck that looked like scratches. He looked… dead in a way. While circling around us he occasionally touched my arm or shoulder. His touch burns scalding hot and spreads through an entire limb. After stopping in front of mom he just grinned and-" Another deep breath and swallow before he finished the story.

"He grabbed her and both of us immediately attacked him. Mom did get a good few punches in but when I tried to reach her and get us out of there Cian extended his arm, which turned into long, tar-y, sharp finger and threw me to the side. That is how this happened." He said and pointed to his side. "All I could hear were mom's screams when they vanished in a puff of shadowy mist before the shadow soldiers came towards me. I didn't think… I just… I don't know how I defeated them, if I even defeated them or if they just vanished with Cian. All I know is that my next thought was that I needed to get to you."

"That's when you teleported here," Aiden said, receiving a confirmative nod from his brother. "Okay… so now we know what we are dealing with. That you for telling us, but you need to get back to the infirmary and heal a little more. We will need you when we fight to get mom back."

Sighing Kane nodded at his younger brother, kind of proud what a great leader he transpired to be. "Sure, I'll just head back."

"Let me take you, they can deal with the rest," Aiden said and helped Kane stand, only to receive a slightly disapproving look.

"Don't be ridiculous. You are as much their leader that dad or grandpa, you stay. I can get back on my own." Smiling at his brother, he kissed his grandmother on the cheek and limped out of the control room. All he had to do now was sit back in the infirmary and wait. Oh, how he hated that.

"Hey, Beauty Queen! Wait up!" Kane froze at the voice that came from the hall he just left. He turned around to see the man he did not expect to come after him, especially when he was wearing a hospital gown and bathrobe.

Frowning he leaned against the wall, waiting for the deeply tanned male to catch up. "What are you doing out here, Luke? Shouldn't you be in there talking strategy and stuff?" _Strategy and stuff? Smooth, Kane. So smooth._

Luke just grinned and ran a hand through his curly, black hair. "Your brother sent me after you. Said something about you kicking his ass if he didn't stay in there."

"Sounds about right," Kane said, grinning slightly. "But you didn't have to do this. I'm more than capable to find the way back alone."

Luke just shrugged and approached him further, stopping right in front of him. "Sure, you can." He leaned forward 'til his mouth was next to Kane's ear. "But I wanted to." He leaned back right after and proceeded to strut down the hall towards the elevators.

He didn't know if he was blushing but his heart was certainly beating out of his chest. Why did he still have that effect on him? It's been years since they enjoyed flirty banter like that. And didn't want his heart to do that. He didn't want his body to yearn for what would only hurt him again. Shaking his head and taking a deep breath was all he had time for before Luke's voice echoed through the hall, telling him to move.

"Should I drag your ass in here or are you going to move?" Luke asked while Kane limped into the cart. "Good boy." He said and padded his red hair.

Frowning Kane shook his head. "Please stop." He didn't say a loudly but the stunned silence he received made him think he screamed at his friend.

"Yeah… sure, sorry." Was all Luke said before the elevator doors closed. They didn't speak for the entirety of the ride, only when the cart jerked to a stop and Kane swayed in his spot Luke spoke again. "Woaw… careful there." He steadied the redhead.

They were close, mere inches apart, which caused Kane to freak after a few seconds. He cleared his throat, mumbled 'thank you' and walked out of the elevator into the hall that leads towards the infirmary.

"You don't have to be so distant, you know!" Luke called after him, causing Kane to halt in his step. "We established that we would be friends and all you've been doing these past ten minutes is ignoring me."

Kane snorted. "I'm not ignoring you. I'm merely trying not to fall for your flirting again. Which you promised not to do to me anymore if you remember."

"Oh please, that wasn't flirting." Luke laughed. "I was just trying to rile you up. Remember the times we could just banter without any second thoughts?"

"Yeah, I do, but that was years ago. Before you decided to make it so much more complicated by being a selfish prick." Kane knew he shouldn't be laming Luke for the choices he made as a teen. They weren't adults but neither children. They both had choices to make. Kane had already chosen, but Luke hadn't. And when he did chose, it broke the bond they had. They were trying to mend it for years, be friends like they were when they were children, but trust was difficult to earn back once it was lost.

"I have told you so many times already that letting you go was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Luke told him defensively, ignoring the hurt in Kane's eyes at his words.

Kane shook his head. "And yet you did." He turned around and walked further down the hall. "You can go back. I can manage the rest of the way alone." And he did, without another word Luke entered the elevator and was gone.

The redhead sighed and stopped once he reached the crane. He looked up into the sad eyes of his sister and the wide eyes of the Barton twins that were hanging in there, trying to free their friend. "Sorry, we didn't-"

Kane held up a hand to silence Ash's attempt at an apology. "It's fine. Should I help you with that?" He was grinning again, it didn't quite reach his eyes, but it was close enough for Lyra to believe he was going to be fine.

"Yes, please! We can't get it to reset or unlock." Nate said, jumping down from the crane. "We tried everything."

Kane smirked. "Have you tried to pull the plug?" He was met with silence and wide-eyed stares. He guessed not. Walking around the crane he spotted where it was plugged into the wall and promptly pulled it. Right after he did that the arms of the apparatus released his sister causing her to fall to the floor.

"Ugh." She landed with a soft thud and stood up right after. "You're so done…" She mumbled only receiving a grin from her brother.

* * *

It was dark and cold when she woke up. She didn't know where she was or how she got there but as soon as the shadows around her started to rise she knew.

"Stop hiding, you coward. Face me!" She screamed at nothing in particular before standing up. She didn't have her sword or any sort of weapon, she felt that her powers would not work, but she would be damned if she backed down.

Then there was a disembodied voice all around her, laughing. "Gods… always up for a fight."

"Who are you?" She asked, looking around in the hopes of catching sight of her captor. "Why am I here?"

Another chuckle before she felt something brush her hair. "Don't you remember me? Wow… harsh."

"Maybe if I could see you then I would remember." She told him in a snarky tone.

Another touch on her back. This started to creep her out. "You want to see me, Thorunn? Fine."

The dark mist around her swirled and the darkness started to lift. She could see now that she was in a dungeon of some sort. The mist compiled in front of her and started to turn into tar before dripping down to reveal a person. A man. Tall, sharp features, slim jaw, high cheekbones, piercing eyes, ashy hair. She knew him once, but couldn't believe it was true. "Cian…?" She breathed in disbelief only to have the man grin and shrug.

"Yes and no." She simply stated.

Confused the blonde took a step back when his skin started to turn gray, his bright eyes changed into a red-ish, purple-ish hue and scars appeared on his cheek and neck. His robes smoked black, giving him the illusion of being made from mist and shadows. "What are you?"

He grinned giddily at that. "I've always wanted to say that."

Thorunn frowned, more confused than before. "What?"

The man approached her but she would not let herself be backed into a corner so she stood her ground. He towered over her, still grinning before answering her question. "Your worst nightmare."


End file.
